All Is Quiet
Jersey Girl, 2022
8/10
A far more stripped back listen than her last album which featured 40+ musicians, the singer-songwriter Susan Cattaneo brings along Kevin Barry and Duke Levin for this vulnerable listen that’s some of her most personal to date.
The title track leads the listen with much calm beauty, where acoustic guitar, mandolin and Cattaneo’s expressive, poetic singing make an immediate impact, and “Time + Love + Gravity” follows with smooth vocal harmonies amid a fuller approach of cozy Americana that embraces electric guitar, too.
Halfway through, “Blackbirds” welcomes very pretty singing alongside hypnotic acoustic guitar, high strung guitar and mandolin, while “Broken Things” displays Cattaneo’s powerful and soaring pipes in a timeless folk sort of way that makes excellent use out of Levin’s glowing lap steel.
Moving towards the end, “Hold Onto Hope” emits a dreamy demeanor and gorgeous intimacy as Lorne Entress provides harmony vocals, and “Follow” exits the listen with a nearly gospel flavor that’s vocally strong, musically bare, and just might be the album’s best.
An artist who possesses all the hallmarks of folk, Americana, country and blues that we could never tire of, the 9 originals present are full of heart and soul, and are quite powerful in their delicate and very thoughtful execution.
Travels well with: Surrender Hill- A Whole Lot Of Freedom; Lynne Hanson- Ice Cream In November