Nicky Swann
Album: How Does Your Land Lie?
Label: Opening Doors
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.nickyswann.com

"How Does Your Land Lie" is the latest cut from singer/songwriter Nicky Swann. In many ways it's an album of journeys, discovery and exploration; both in a literary and metaphorical sense, Nicky seemingly keen to understand the relationships between the familiar and the unknown. And that in it's self feels a little strange as the album is actually an exploration of her home town Newton Abbot. Which shows just how off the mark small town really is.

The songs feel sparse, but not bleak, she gives the components of the songs space to make their contribution without you having to feel you have to look at every tree spread across the tundra, more that each tree knows its place in the picture and has no need to stand out as an element, well except for the voice.

The songs themselves have elements of folk, blues, Americana and even gospel and jazz scattered liberally amongst them. It's not enough to give the album a disjointed feel, but more than enough for you to feel that Nicky imagines her songs as individual entities, rather than as collections.

She has an expressive singing style, you often get as much from the way the word sounds as from the actual word its self. That almost gives her a license to take liberties when she repeats lines, building in meanings that wouldn't be there with more straight forward repetition.

Swann has a powerful voice, which most of the time works to her advantage, but there are a couple of times, when she's giving it her all, that it drifts mighty close to feeling like it's about to deliver a show tune and it doesn't quite feel right to me. That said it doesn't happen often, but you can feel it there sitting on the cusp.

As I mentioned at the start this is an album of journey and exploration and that's where its greatest strength lies, Nicky seems at her happiest when she's on a path of discovery, experiencing something new, both positive and negative and turning those thoughts into something easy to share, well share the journey at least, because you feel that's way more important than answers.

Consequently "How Does Your Land Lie" is quite a thought provoking album, one that allows you to come at it from a number of different angles and whilst not actually discuss, at least contemplate on some of the songs and who knows even be inspired and when push comes to shove, that's what it's all about.

Neil King