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 Caught in the Carousel - "There will be music despite everything"
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Folk Thief
Love, Heartache and Oblivion
Independent
“Put another hole in my heart/Never seems to make much difference,” sings Folk Thief’s Dave Hadgkiss on his band’s debut. World weary, wistful and perennially worried, Vancouver’s Hadgkiss is quite a find. Armed with an acoustic guitar, a wry cynicism and a poetic touch, he’s a folk singer with battered heart, a man who looks out at the world and thinks, Well, now we’re done for. That being said, this is indie folk that veers lyrically into metal (“In pools of blood the children play/The dead will line the streets today”) and sonically into country (“Heart Beat”) without ever skipping a beat. The irresistible “Babble” is set to a rhythmic shuffle; the nimble “A Light For Liberty” brings to mind John Prine and the spare “From Beautiful To Damned” is a stunner. The album’s highlights are when Hadgkiss is backed by the sonorous singer/songwriter Kelly Haigh. Their interplay suggesting the musical coupling of Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons, the two sing together with aching beauty. “Broken Record” is spry and forlorn and “Heart Beat” is truly touching, but it’s on “Breathe” (which is the album’s finest moment) that the two singers coalesce with the most magic. “Don’t fret/Move slow/What the future holds/We don’t know,” Hadgkiss sings, while Haigh echoes this sentiment behind him with a hushed siren-like brilliance.
—Alex Green
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