Like Ducks!
Christina Smith & Jean Hewson
The Borealis Recording Company
1998
14 tracks
In towns across Canada, there are musical local heroes beloved of and praised by their folky peers. After singing and playing a set at their local folk music club, they are told that once again they were wonderful, told again that they should make a recording. Christina Smith and Jean Hewson sound like a couple of these folks. Like Ducks! is a competent performance. That's all. There is little, if anything, to set this recording apart from the plethora of second level neo-Celtic releases to which we have been subjected over the past decade or so.
It is not that Smith and Hewson lack talent but that they have perhaps jumped in too quickly, releasing a CD before they are quite ready. A few more months at the local clubs might have helped them to become more at ease with their music. This is much of the problem with this recording: it is polished musically, and quite creative at points, but it is never comfortable.
Smith and Hewson seem to be trying too hard. This is folk music, back porch music, music for family gatherings and the local dance. The performance here lacks sponaneity and its affect is often strained. Reading the promotional materials, one notices that the fiddler, Smith, is a classically trained cellist. The question arises whether she is too used to reading notes from paper and has trouble playing freely and spontaneously. Too often her playing is stiff and formal, sounding more like a violinist than a fiddler.
More than just trying too hard, there is a sense that these ladies are showing off, trying to impress the audience with how clever they are. This is apparent in the pretentious titles of songs like "Sound Symposium Jig..." and "Scotty Macmillan's G Minor Jig." It is also evident in their use of what their record company describes as "unusual instrumentation,, sudden changes in tempo and dynamics, and key modulations." While these techniques are indeed clever, in the midst of a suite of folk music, they are also a distraction and irritant for the listener.
Attempting to be clever is especially disastrous in Smith and Hewson's rendition of Hank William's classic "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." Here, the song has been bowdlerized and Celticized to where its passion is all but excised and it becomes not much more than maudlin pap. Care has not even been taken here to get the words right. [For more on my personal views on making changes in traditional music, see this note.]
In a club atmosphere with the undercurrent of conversation blunting its sharper edges, Jean Hewson's voice must surely be very beautiful. Recorded, her voice cuts like a dull knife, its edges just sharp enough to become disconcerting. This effect is only exascerbated by Hewson's quirky, often jerky and uneven singing style. The most enjoyable sung parts in this release are the ones where Hewson multi-tracks her voice and manages some quite lovely harmonies. When Hewson sings these harmonies, the edginess heard in her solo parts disappears to be replaced by a quiet fluidity which is quite pleasant.
It is quite possible that this release will hold only local interest, being purchased by those who have heard Smith and Hewson in the clubs but being relegated to the back shelves in the rest of the country.
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Review Written: February 2, 1999
Page Last modified: February 14, 2004
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