Cara Luft
Album: Darlingford
Label: Blue Case Tunes
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.caraluft.com

Many will remember Cara Luft as a founder member of Canada's wonderful Wailin' Jennys; eventually leaving that trio in 2006 to resume her solo career armed with an impressive repertoire comprising covers (contemporary and traditional) as well as original songs and a noticeably interesting guitar-playing style that was sometimes said to be influenced by the folkier aspects of Led Zeppelin… After releasing a well-received album The Light Fantastic and the Black Water Side EP, things had gone a touch quiet for Cara, until the release of this latest project, which brought the depths and breadths of her talent straight back to our consciousness.

The album title derives from Cara's penchant for recording in small, intimate venues - this one being the Zion United Calvin Church in Darlingford (which is, I believe, in Manitoba), one of many similarly-configured locations used for this album. And small and intimate in scale the recordings and arrangements may be, there's a rich, fully detailed sound to the proceedings too, which is in no small way due to the supportive presence of her worthy crew of musicians that includes Andrew Downing, Mark Mariash, Andrew Collins, Jesse Zubot, Scott Poley, Lloyd Peterson and Damon Mitchell, playing a selection of mainly acoustic instruments with banjo, mandolin, violin and various species of guitar (including "an abundance of vintage Martins"!) to the fore.

Cara's own songs can be judged disc highlights; I specially rated the old-timey-sounding House On Fire, the string-quartet-bedecked Dallaire, the passionately bluesy Off My Mind, the delicately affectionate My Darling One and the catchy opener Only Love Can Save Me, but it seems Cara's unable to turn in a weak composition - even the bonus live cut, the hilarious been-there-done-that true-story Charged!, which in lesser hands would be in danger of wearing thin quite fast, survives repeat plays (I won't spoil it for you!). Of the covers, the traditional Portland Town has plenty of life, while the mournful beauty of He Moved Through The Fair is tellingly conveyed in an (unusually) insistently rhythmic arrangement; only the Mike Scott/Waterboys number Bring 'Em All In feels unremarkable in this illustrious company (and that's probably the fault of the song itself).

The intimate yet understated feel of the recording accentuates Cara's own intense degree of accomplishment, and this is an album you need to hear and treasure while seeking out the next opportunity to catch Cara's incomparable presence in a live setting.

David Kidman