Caught in the Carousel

Jo Hamilton

Gown
Poseidon

Jo Hamilton

There she stands, in her prominently-mentioned gown, staring out at us while we—operating under the assumption that we all do in fact judge books by their covers—can only hope for one of two possibilities: Jo Hamilton will either announce herself with a debut album full of an earned arrogance that would render Veruca Salt meek and introverted. Or—and here is where one is terrified to even imagine such a possibility—Jo Hamilton will send forth a debut album, the lyrics to which will only indicate that in her personal library, she has a "darker" collection of poetry than Alanis Morrisette.

It will take some time, however, before one can get a sense of what magic Gown ultimately offers. Once the disc starts, a knot almost immediately forms in the listener's stomach when the feint guitar riffs die down on the opening track "Exist," and in comes that rushed, bloated bombast that one gets from one of the very few Tori Amos tracks that can even be got through from beginning to end. Along with the music, the title itself seems meant to show "muscle," "chops," "gravitas," when all it conveys is "trying," "too," "hard."

Things don't get much better on the second track, "Pick Me Up." Though it has its moments, it, like a few of the other tracks on this album—"How Beautiful," "Paradise," "Winter is Over," and "Think of Me"—don't know whose album they belong to. Sarah McLachlan circa 1995? Paula Cole 1996? Jewel 1999? (It's interesting to note that the album often sounds dated). It must be said that there is also an air to this album of self-satisfaction, bordering on smugness (in the liner notes, beyond the mention of the basic guitar, the bass, there is the dulcimer, the cotton drums, but then, it seems very important to also point out the wine glasses and Brazil nuts that appear on certain tracks).

All of this is very frustrating because once it finds its footing and gathers itself, Hamilton proves that at its heart, Glow is made up of four tracks—"There It Is," "Deeper (Glorious)," "All in Adoration," and "Liathach"—that might be the four best tracks I hear all 2011, and one track, "Mekong Song" that might be the finest, most delicate, five minutes I've heard since Shirley Horn's 2003 "If You Go Away." And all of this has little to do with Brazil nuts or champagne flutes. It has to do with Hamilton's voice and artistry. That which is so vainglorious for too much of this album, is simply trimmed down to glorious. There are moments in "Mekong Song," where her voice is so rich, so thoroughly textured and new that one can imagine a future where wars are waged to find from which font-on which continent-did such finery arise.

It seems that in this iTunes era, there is plenty of room for E.P.s. British group Ilya released a masterful one last year. Had Hamilton's Gown arrived as an E.P. it would have strode right down the middle of every red carpet it encountered.

—Thomas Cooney