Vanguard Records
2008
Watch The Sky
About This Album
Patty Larkin is a rare bird, a female auteur who can do it all. On Watch the Sky she went into the studio alone and produced, wrote, sang, and played every note herself on a variety of instruments including toy organ, an old Casio keyboard, lap steel detuned and played with drumsticks, baritone guitar played with a violin bow, and assorted acoustic and electric guitars, basses, and drum machines and lots more. She's known for her amazing guitar style, which is in evidence here, but there's no flash for the sake of flash. Everything serves the song, with instruments adding mood and emotion to the pieces. "Hallelujah" is an uplifting, celebratory tune, full of hope and optimism that rides the chooglin' beat of a giant heart. Larkin fills up the background with big chiming guitars that float through space to complement the chorus -- "Hallelujah baby, I'm fallin' for ya." It's an almost religious celebration of love that leaves you feeling all tingly inside. But its openhearted honesty sets it apart from most of the more impressionistic tunes here. "Traveling Alone" starts delicately with Larkin's warm vocals and a simple baritone guitar figure, then the tune slips into an aching melancholy intensified by slow strummed chords.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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