Eileen Rose - At Our Tables (Evangeline)

To start with, At Our Tables lacks a strong sense of identity. Rose attempts a few different styles and approaches throughout the album, but her experimentation is not full-blooded enough in its approach, while on the more traditional tracks she seems to be treading water with much more purpose needed in her lyrics to draw the attention. In addition, the record lacks clear conviction - Rose tentatively tries several approaches throughout the album, but none of them are entirely convincing.

Opener '$20 Shoes' is a case in point. Rose sounds akin to Thea Gilmore, and like Gilmore she draws on classic American sounds and themes with rock 'n roll guitar and talk of dancing with no care, but the whole thing sounds a little put on.

The same issue arises with latter tracks 'Blue Mood Words' and 'Will-O-The-Wisp', where (in both cases) it feels like listening to a covers band and not the genuine article. 'Blue Mood Words' is an attempt at country rock and though there are some good guitar chops the lyrics are tired and the whole track sounds less than committed. 'Will-o-the-Wisp' is a duet and has a similar feel to 'Oh Darling!' by The Beatles, but again, there's no depth of feeling behind the music and no spark between Rose and her vocal partner.

The unfortunate aspect of the record is that these tracks are some of its strongest performers. Most of the songs are bland and repetitious and Rose struggles to conjure up many interesting melody lines from her voice or guitar.

Lyrically, she suffers from the common singer/songwriter problem of being aloof and unspecific with her words. This is clearly an attempt to be mysterious and focused on some inexpressible emotion, but in practice it is dull and ineffective. She also stumbles into cliché far too easily; the use of "tears coming down just like rain" in 'Bird of Youth' cannot be excused.

The two tracks that manage to avoid these pitfalls are 'Old Time Reckoning': a strangely uplifting solo organ track, and 'Jeannie Steps Out', which deposits itself deep in Springsteen country thanks to its subject matter of a wild child in a small town. Notably, this is the only track on the record where understatement is a positive.

Rating: 2/5

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Artist: Eileen Rose Title: 25 Beethoven.. Released: 20/08/1996 Buy Now \| View Details	Artist: Eileen Rose Title: 25 Mellow Piano.. Released: 22/02/2005 Buy Now \| View Details

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Published: 22/08/2008 at 16:05
Author: Sam Duke
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