When Virginia-born, Boston-based singer/songwriter
Erin McKeown
first appeared, her ethnomusicology degree from Brown got a lot of play in her press releases, and she was lumped in, uneasily, with various other "new
folk"
folks. Her contributions to the 2001 project
Voices on the Verge
(think of a younger, hipper, and less corny
4 Bitchin' Babes
) didn't mesh with those of bandmates
Jess Klein
,
Beth Amsel
, and
Rose Polenzani
very well, largely due to the fact that even early in her career, she was never a folkie in the traditional sense, yet her style was never confrontational enough to put her in with the
Moldy Peaches
wing of the New York
anti-folk
cadre.
McKeown
has since pulled further and further away from the
folk
(and even
folk-rock
) ghetto, and
We Will Become Like Birds
is a full-fledged, richly textured
pop
record in the tradition of
Aimee Mann
or
Sam Phillips
. Soothing acoustic and jangly electric guitars support
's appealingly low-key vocals, with occasional touches like the electric piano underpinning
"Delicate December"
adding sonic variety. The songs are a varied and melodically sturdy lot that never settle for mere prettiness, with the hard-fought optimism of
"Air"
and the more downbeat moodiness of
"Float"
marking the album's emotional poles. The mixed emotions and soaring chorus of the
Michael Penn
-like closer,
"You Were Right About Everything,"
make it the album's highlight, but the entirety of
is excellent; less bound by genre restrictions than ever before,
has taken the opportunity to soar. ~ Stewart Mason