Sarah McQuaid
Album: Walking Into White
Label: Waterbug
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.sarahmcquaid.com

There's something more than mildly frustrating about this CD, the fourth solo album by charismatic singer and songwriter Sarah. Her mixed heritage (born in Madrid to Spanish and American parents, raised in Chicago and now living in Cornwall) had informed her first two records especially, with their attractive menu of songs from predominantly traditional sources. She'd eagerly fallen under the influence and mentorship of producer Gerry O'Beirne, who guided her through albums one to three with his creative and inventive approach to using the recording studio. On album number three, The Plum And The Rose, the focus of the material shifted more onto Sarah's original songs, and it was the closest distillation hitherto of Sarah's warm and welcoming stage presence, at the same time bringing out the rich nuances of her singing voice.

Now, though, Sarah's decided to ring the changes by travelling from Cornwall, UK to Cornwall (New York,) USA in order to work with two co-producers: Jeremy Backofen (Frightened Rabbit, Felice Brothers) and Adam Pierce (who happens to be Sarah's cousin) - neither of whom has worked either in the folk world or with Sarah before. Using often unorthodox recording methods, the whole album was laid down and mixed in just under three weeks. And yet, any associated gain in immediacy is countered, in my opinion, by a rushed, crowded, at times distinctly muddied quality to several of the tracks, and by a sense of over-layering in the arrangement process, a tendency for those competent multi-instrumentalists and their friendly guests to eagerly throw in anything but the proverbial kitchen sink. This in turn sometimes (albeit not always) has the effect of obscuring Sarah's voice, or else that voice gets played down within the overall mix and the lyrics become partially buried. The intent might be fun and playful, as Sarah herself declares (was she aiming at a kind of experimental acid-folk vibe, I wonder at times? - Low Winter Sun almost comes into that category), but the resulting inconsistency of aural perspective doesn't do Sarah's songs any favour in the short term. Neither does the curiously boxy quality given to her voice on some tracks, while the introduction of a tumbling, crashing drumkit on songs like Where The Wind Decides To Blow and The Silver Lining (this one's also been released as a single, by the way) is intrusive, even considering the upbeat pop-folk spirit of their lyrics.

One instance where a busy arrangement does work, though, is the intriguing three-part round Jackdaws Rising, which scores with its particularly imaginative use of polyrhythms. That apart, arguably the most appealing and successful tracks are those where Adam and Jeremy seem to've been given least free hand and/or are otherwise reined in - Sarah's persuasive, personally intimate cover of MacColl's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, for example, for which the only backing is her own guitar, and her delightful, resonant take on the hymn All Creatures… (also known as Canticle Of The Sun). And there's the cryptic a cappella outing Sweetness And Pain (recorded against what sounds like a gentle shower of rain), which is divided into three separate tracks and then dispersed, scattered amongst the disc's running-order: ostensibly "as a sort of interlude and recurring theme" (but in the end I don't really think that gambit works). However, the evocative instrumental I Am Grateful For What I Have, which pairs Sarah's accomplished acoustic guitar work with embellishments from classical guitar and cello, is sensitively managed. And indeed, there are also some lovely songs here originating from Sarah's own pen (three, including the title-track parable, are directly inspired by Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons stories), but we don't always quite get to hear them at their uncluttered best.

I won't deny that further plays of the whole album do begin to bring out the special attributes of Sarah's writing, but not every listener will be able to find the time to become thus engaged - even though it's rather too short an offering in terms of its total playing-time.

David Kidman