last updated 10/04/06
by Mare Wakefield
Featured Download: “Give Me a Kiss” MP3
Part angel, part Earth mama, Karen Savoca possesses a voice capable of sounding ethereal and tough all in the same moment. It’s an appropriate mix for songs of transcending worldly troubles (“Just Let Go”) or getting back to basics (“In the Dirt”).
Savoca is an accomplished percussionist, and her creative drumming techniques establish a groove that provides a solid foundation for lyrics like “What do the birds think when they look down at us / Tugging and pulling and kicking up dust.” Acoustic and electric guitar join with organ, mandolin, bass, banjo, piano and accordion to flesh out the arrangements on Savoca’s bone-and-sinew strong compositions. The New York-–based artist is in fine form on In the Dirt, and the album is a must-have for fans and a great introduction for the uninitiated.
Sparkling arrangements and thoughtful vocals characterize Karen Savoca's seventh CD, which reveals that time is much on her mind."Just Let Go" gets its tension from octave mandolin, shifting like fever-bound consciousness, but also from Savoca's plainspoken catalog of images: "Here is the spring that feeds the lake/Here is the house built by my brother/and this the path that we did take/The day that you became my lover." All that she values has slipped away, but Savoca's protagonist looks back in wonder rather than self pity. "The Year" echoes a time of depression, perhaps a result of "Just Let Go"'s losses, its melancholy balanced against the resolute pace of a mandolin. In "Don't Look At The Clock" she wants time to stop; "Mother's Arms" simmers with recognotion that men playijng at war can never go back to the simple days of "playing soldier in the sand." As for the lively charmer, "Give Me A Kiss"... it's got the joyous abandon of someone with all the time in the world.