This CD is a little too unassuming for its own good; it’s endearing and entertaining but just a little too quiet to really snag your attention, which is less than it deserves. Mind you, harp-led music can tend towards twee and there’s nary a sign of tweeing here, which is good.
Emilie Kahn is a Canadian singer and Ogden her harp, but she ropes in a band for this album of gentle, folky acoustic pop. It’s a bit like a gentler take on Florence And The Machine (who has been known to include a harp). It’s more delicate than Florence but Emilie has got a quirky appeal of her own that reminded us of several artier and pleasing bands (Psapp, since you ask), who create their own little worlds.
Opener Blame kicks off with a harp but as soon as the vocals come in you can tell it’s not going to be anodyne music for unicorns. The title track is suggestive of her fellow Canadian Feist while Close is more Emiliani Torrini, as is White Lies, which we guess is a break-up song, given the opening lyric: “His heart is down somewhere down south (?) / so I cannot understand a word that comes out of his lying mouth”.
It’s a charming little album.