Hat Check Girl
Album: Goodbye Butterfield
Label: Gallway Bay
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.hatcheckgirl.net

Hat Check Girl is the name under which resides the ongoing artistic partnership between singer-songwriters Annie Gallup and Peter Gallway, and Goodbye Butterfield is their fourth such collaboration. Comparable to its immediate predecessor Road To Red Point, which was inspired by a collection of photographs of a remote stretch of Oregon coast, Goodbye Butterfield is a kind of concept album, this time built around the stories of the inhabitants and passers-through of Butterfield, an imaginary American "small-Northern-city". And again, it's a disc that's strong on atmosphere, with soft yet compelling acoustic-based texturings (guitars, dobro, banjo, lap steel etc) providing a backdrop for the protagonists' distinctive voices.

Ten of the dozen vignettes are co-writes between Annie, Peter and drummer Jerry Marotta, whereas the remaining two (the breezy old-timey Grandma's Best China and the nostalgic The Old You) were penned by Annie herself. All of the songs share a knowing literacy and give an intimate insight into the effect that place has on a life; the air of intimacy is accentuated by Annie's characteristic smoky, hushed, semi-spoken delivery on songs like Jagged Scar (especially), Arrow and the title track.

Peter's delivery is a little more ragged, and might take a bit more getting used to when he takes the lead vocal (as on the heavily referential prison ballad Crossroads Correctional), but his styling nevertheless proves the correct match for this kind of material. There's no song that feels like filler tho', and every piece interlocks credibly within the jigsaw that represents the rich tapestry of Butterfield life.

In other words, all of this adds up to another cool and sophisticated yet rather hypnotic listening experience, one which draws you into its world and cloaks you with its warmth of expression.

David Kidman