I’m With Her (Jarosz, Watkins, O’Donovan) Team Up On Tender Tones With Debut ‘See You Around’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

[rating=6.00]

The idea of a supergroup was a popular one back in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when modern music was accelerating rapidly and itinerant musicians were motivated by wanderlust to seek for new areas of exploration and other artists with whom they could collaborate. Those restless intents are still at work today of course, but nowadays mixing and mingling is so common, it’s rarely even mentioned at all.

Still, the union of three such obvious and distinctive voices as Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins and Aoife O’Donovan does make their new collaboration, I’m With Her, and debut album See You Around, an event of some significance. All three woman have achieved prominence with their own individual efforts, and the fact that they each did so at relatively early ages is all the more cause for distinction. Not that See You Around is the kind of album that’s likely going to make any nonfans take extra notice.

The music is modest in its execution, relatively unadorned and relies only on guitars, mandolin and fiddle in the strictest sense. Still, the songs have a pleasing quality to them, a hint of gothic folk mixed with wistful musings. Songs such as “See You Around,” “Ryland (Under the Apple Tree),” and “Wild One”carries a distinct sense of love and longing, conveyed with more than a hint of forlorn sentiment and downcast desire. That lingering combination of dreaminess and despair purveys the album overall, suggesting that the trio might have constrained themselves if only to consolidate their sound.

Still, for all the spare sounds and low key whispers, See You Around is remarkably affecting. Several tracks — “Overland” and “Close It Down” in particular — are all the more enticing due to the seductive echoes of each. And when the three join their voices in an acapella intro to the album’s final entry, the mournful “Hundred Miles,” there’s no way those tender tones could be any more enticing.

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter