Signature Sounds
2008
Shotgun Singer
About This Album
If Songs for a Hurricane, Kris Delmhorst's album from 2003, was deep and thought-provoking, this fifth solo CD (excluding side projects and EPs) released five years later, Shotgun Singer, wraps up that psychological web with sound modifications that go deeper and denser. The artist seems to take liberally from George Martin's efforts on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and transfer those embellishments to the needs of a songwriter/singer in the same way that Emitt Rhodes emulated the first Paul McCartney solo LP, McCartney. The dangling vocal on "Midnight Ringer" squeezes out all emotion possible while the instrumentation goes about its business filling the available spaces in highly entertaining fashion. Keep in mind, all this praise isn't saying that this is "the next Sgt. Pepper's" or anything of the sort, what is obvious is that Delmhorst picks up on great work and uses what came before to interpret her new ideas, forging a sound that is both original and appealing. Picture Joni Mitchell deciding to step into Brian Wilson's treasure chest of sound effects and very consciously -- and cautiously -- blending them like some aural chemist to interact with the words and melodies.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4,5,7 and 8)

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