★★★
In 2010, Karen Elson’s debut album The Ghost That Walks exposed to the world an artist already fully immersed in her own musical journey. It was mature, sincere and more than a little dark, but with space still yet to grow.
Double Roses does well to pick up musically where her debut left off (despite coming seven years later), delivering rich compositions that are warm and cosy one moment, bitterly cold the next. Producer Jonathan Wilson’s influence is clear, gifting the album that vibrantly wholesome ’70s sound he has done so well to rebirth in recent years.
But despite the luscious and at times grand arrangements, it’s the vocal performances of these songs that really give them life. They are truly striking, and while they may at first feel precious and delicate, they possess the ability to completely destroy your expectations.
The lyrics portray the same whimsical facade and for that reason match comfortably, but unfortunately lack a lot of the guts. Forgoing any real discernible depth, the subject matter is reduced to that of wishy-washy natural imagery and shallow poetics. Fanciful words like feathers and arrows and mountains and birds, and track names like ‘Wolf’ and ‘Raven’ feature prominently, helping sculpt the aura of the album but ultimately causing it to fall prey to typical folky tropes.
Double Rosesis out Friday April 7 through 1965.
