Kathleen Yearwood - À la Claire Fantome FLAC

À la Claire Fantöme (Voice of the Turtle, 2013)

This was originally announced as an album of French songs, but not every song on here is in French, and a trio of them were actually composed by Yearwood, so it’s not entirely a “French” album. I haven’t heard other versions of the traditional songs on this release, and I’m not sure my words can do this music justice. I just want to selfishly listen to this over and over and not write about it, but I think more people need to hear these releases, so here goes…

Kathleen is joined on this disc by Scott White (Contrabass, violin) and Ken Read (trombone).

L’on dit q’amors kicks things off with beautiful cascades of guitar notes, and deep, still contrabass, with Yearwood’s voice floating like gentle fog across it all. The song rises out of the darkness to breathy heights, while simultaneously plumbing the depths of melancholy. The liner notes reveal that the song was sourced from “Songs of the Women Trouveres” (Yale University Press, 2001).

St. Paul’s Infirmary is a beautiful traditional song, which Yearwood of course makes her own. The guitar manages to sound gentle, yet insistent, while Yearwood’s sublime vocals plumb the depths of misery and soar up to the heights of the beyond.

The title track is another trad.arr. number, sung in shiver-inducing French. The guitar is deliberate and plodding – like a death knell, perfectly accompanied by moaning contrabass, and just a touch of trombone.

By contrast, Rue des Blancs Monteaux is almost a lullaby. It’s gentle and hopeful sounding, but about a minute and a half in, it gets louder (electric guitar and contrabass creaking like a wooden ship at sea) and is likely to wake anybody lullabied to sleep by the first part. Compared to the melancholy tone of most of the rest of the album, this song is like a sudden parting of clouds.

Riel’s Letter is another short one, also sung in French. It is playful sounding, with a slight undertone of melancholy, like Autumn leaves caught in a breeze… Clouds part again for a moment.

Remember Love , sung in English, was written by Canadian songwriter/author Kyp Harness. The tone is delicate and yearning, although Yearwood’s voice develops a sharp edge towards the end.

The last three songs, starting with the absolutely beautiful Anniversaries, were all written by Yearwood, Anniversaries seems concerned with the pros and cons of living forever. Mostly cons though (“A bad memory on every corner…”). My favorite line of the moment is, “I ain't getting soft like Neil Young/bullshitting about days long gone”. I love the guitar tone on this song – it’s perfectly heavy and emotive. At the time of writing, I think this is my favorite song on the album.

God Wasn’t There is emotionally heavy and full of sorrow, bristling with the need to right wrongs (“All the forgotten animals and the kids no one cares about/Just this once, give them a break”). The subtle backing vocals and touches of trombone flesh the song out nicely.

Crowfoot is a re-recording of a song that originally appeared on Yearwood’s “Dead Branches Make A Noise” cassette way back in 1992. The trombone drone, contrabass, and violin weave their way through the hypnotically picked guitar notes, while Yearwood’s voice ranges from a near whisper to hair-raising heights. I’ll have to dig out my cassette to do a closer comparison between the old version and this one, but I can tell you now that to my ears, the two versions aren’t vastly different.

The album rewards the listener with each new spin, revealing new details each time. That’s the way it should be. After all, the gift of music is supposed to last forever.