May 17, 2022

Winnipeg
10° C, Rain

Full Forecast

Contact Us Subscribe Manage Subscription Chat with us
Log in Create Free Account Help Chat with us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • My Account
    • Manage my Subscription
    • Change Password

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
    • Log in
    • Create Free Account
    • Help

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
  • Coronavirus Coverage
  • Replica E-Edition
    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West
  • Above the Fold
  • Front page
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Book Club
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Canada
  • Local
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • World
  • The Star
  • Reader BridgeNEW
  • WFP EventsNEW
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Archives
  • Free Press Community Review
    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Classifieds
  • Contests
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • LifestylesNEW
    • All Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Homes
    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Newsletters
  • Obituaries
  • Puzzles
  • Photo and Book store
  • More

©2022 FP Newspaper Inc.

Close
  • Quick Links

    • Coronavirus Coverage
    • Federal Election
    • Above the Fold
    • Home
    • Local
    • Canada
    • World
    • Classifieds
    • Special Coverage
    • Newsletters
    • Obituaries
    • Photo and Book store
    • Archives
    • Contests
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Content
    • Privacy Policy

    Ways to support us

    • Pay it Forward program
    • Subscribe
    • Day Pass
    • Support Faith coverage
    • Support Arts coverage
  • Replica E-Edition

    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West

    Business

    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Arts & Life

    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Sports

    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • Opinion

    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor

    Media

    • All Media
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos

    Homes

    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Canstar Community News

    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Coupons

    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • About Us

    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
The Free Press
Articles Read
Your Balance +tax
Day Pass Till
Day Pass
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Report an Error
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
    • Staff Biographies
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • Log in
    • Create Account
    • Help
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
    • My Account
    • Manage My Subscription
    • Change Password
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
Log in Create Account Contact Us
Contact Us Manage Subscription
  • Sections
  • Local
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Diversions
    • Environment
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Health
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Soccer
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • E-Edition
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Automotive
    • Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Real Estate
    • Rentals
    • Services
  • Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Manitoba’s Top Employers
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print
    • Ripley's Aquariums
    • The Bay
    • Staples Canada
    • Altitude Sports
    • Nike
    • Tuango
    • Ebay Canada
    • Sport Chek
    • Roots
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe$1.50 for 5 months
Home Arts & Life Arts & Entertainment Music

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

New music

Reviews of this week's CD releases

Posted: 3:00 AM CST Thursday, Mar. 7, 2019

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Save to Read Later

POP & ROCK

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 7/3/2019 (1167 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

POP & ROCK

Hozier
Wasteland, Baby! (Columbia)

For proof that Irish singer-songwriter Hozier has hit the big time, look no further than who he’s singing with these days: Mavis Staples and Booker T. Jones.

Their soaring song — Nina Cried Power — is a fitting opening to the Grammy-nominated artist’s second full-length album, Wasteland, Baby! It’s a stunning 14-track collection that proves Hozier has suffered no sophomore slump. It’s assured, unrushed, complex, soulful and passionate, with his specific Irish stew of R&B, rock, gospel and folk. It’s nourishing and substantive, a reminder that enduring music is possible in 2019.

Hozier — born Andrew Hozier-Byrne — emerged in 2013 with Take Me to Church, his anthem against religious hypocrisy, and an excellent self-titled debut album that mixed confessional lyrics and progressive politics. The new album kicks off in a similar vein, with Hozier, Jones and Staples paying tribute to such activist-artists as Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon and Staples herself. "It’s not the waking, it’s the rising," Hozier sings.

Then it’s on to his valentine to music itself with Almost (Sweet Music), which cleverly name-drops song titles from the likes of Duke Ellington and Chet Baker. Hozier then segues to the bedroom with the slinky Movement, dripping with desire.

Wasteland, Baby! is filled with dread and doom, but also — as the cheeky title suggests — humour and light. Hozier returns to sing about the joy of music in the sunny To Noise Making (Sing), which has references to Prince and the Waterboys.

Hozier’s lyrics include everyone from Orpheus to Fred Astaire and plenty of bird imagery. Every song but one was written exclusively by him and he plays guitar, organ, synth and electric piano. He also supplies bells, snaps, claps, beatbox, tambourine and shaker, and on a few songs, he’s playfully credited as "Sex Weasel." After delivering on this album, Hozier can call himself whatever he likes.

★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: Nina Cried Power; Almost (Sweet Music)

— Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press

 

ROOTS

White Owl Red
Existential Frontiers (Hush Mouse Records)

This year continues at a frenzied pace of new and exciting voices in the roots/Americana field, and the third album by San Francisco-based J. Josef McManus, a.k.a. White Owl Red, the delightful Existential Frontiers, should have a few new ears bending its way.

McManus is a wordsmith and the recording has his vocals front and centre to the point that the listener can truly enjoy his sweet delivery and ability to craft memorable language that sticks in your mind. Breaking Away has a Dylanesque bob and weave coursing through its waltz-time flavour. "There’s three bricks missing at the entry/It’s been that way several years/Watch your step if you should come by/You could trip on that trail of tears..." paints the sort of picture you can keep coming back to again and again.

There is an absolute honesty of sentiment in the quieter tracks, like the moonlit angst in See Through Me, and the swirling sadness that envelops Hand-Me-Down Girl. McManus shoots off in a couple of different directions and lets his cow-punk persona rock free in the short sharp shocker I’m A Saint and the fist-raised virtue of Union Fight Song. There is no lack of twang-fulness here, either, and for those that need to stomp on the hardwood floor, Take A Good Look and the title track raise some serious dust with their deft use of dobro and mandolin in the mix.

There are a few songs of morning-after regret (Good Morning Moonshine, Everything But Crying), which include foggy-notion realizations like "I tried drowning the memory in tequila/Cause whiskey couldn’t handle the chore/Tried smokin’ grass from sunrise to sunrise/It just made me hungry, lazy and high..."

★★★★ out of five

Stream these: Everything But Crying; Hand-Me-Down Girl

— Jeff Monk

 

JAZZ

Michael Davidson & Dan Fortin
Clock Radio (Elastic Recordings)

Vibraphonist Michael Davidson and bassist Dan Fortin are both busy and sought-after Toronto jazz musicians. Here they present a lovely, thoughtful and, at times, unexpectedly complex duet album.

At one level, Clock Radio is thoroughly melodic, and without intending to make it sound derivative, there are hints both of duet albums with Gary Burton on vibes and Chick Corea on piano, or a pared-down Modern Jazz Quartet. The musicality is unquestionable.

As is always the case with duet albums, the interplay and sensitivity to joint improvisation must be a given, or the result sounds forced or over-simplified. No chance of that here. The tunes are melodic without being trite, complex without losing touch and the use of electronics at times is an interesting addition. Davidson excels at a gentle reverb level and can truly fly when needed. Fortin is not an accompanist here; he is an equal soloist.

While "no place to hide" is an overused phrase, these thoughtful interpretations make the phrase unnecessary. Tracks like Delicate are well named. A Lift Above adds an electronic override that works well. The opening two tracks set the listener up for the gentle and beautiful music to follow. There can be great jazz that is aggressive and there is also great jazz that simply makes you smile with its quiet and personal message. Fortin and Davidson leave us with basically a peaceful yet surprising treat.

★★★★ out of five

Stream these: Tur; Berlin V; Zwie Werden Eins

— Keith Black

 

Winnipeg Gardener

What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. A monthly email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing.

Sign up for Winnipeg Gardener
Sign Up

CLASSICAL

Paul Lombardi
Pieces of Mind & Matter String Duets (Ravello Records)

This intriguing new release features five string duos written over a period of 13 years by Paul Lombardi, presented in chronological order that provides an array of various instrumental combinations, as well a glimpse into the American composer’s artistic evolution.

The oldest work is Holocene (2004) for violin and viola, which pays homage to late American composer George Crumb. Lombardi creates an effective textural landscape infused with dramatic tension as the two players move through a close-knit pattern of 11 semitones. Acquiesce (2006) for violin and cello begins in the brooding depths with a three-note motif that gradually unfolds into more expansive thematic material.

An album highlight is Persiguién-dose (2007), inspired by a Pablo Neruda poem and scored for double cellos, displaying the composer’s ability to craft compelling musical dialogue between two egalitarian, sonorous partners. He digs even deeper with Phosphorescent (2008), written for cello and double bass, while his latest offering, Fracture (2017), returns the listener to higher musical climes, with two violins’ pungent, entwining harmonies and pregnant pauses providing further evidence of this wholly arresting compositional voice.

★★★1/2 out of five

— Holly Harris

If you value coverage of Manitoba’s arts scene, help us do more.
Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism.
BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

  • Report Error
  • Submit a Tip
  • Refund
  • The Free Press is certified by

The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.

To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.

Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Top