![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/come1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
by Jesse Popeski<\/b><\/p>\n
Carly Dow’s 2015 debut <\/span>Ingrained <\/span><\/i>introduced a bold and ambitious folk artist to the Canadian music scene. Her sophomore album <\/span>Comet <\/span><\/i>(October 19<\/span>th<\/span>, 2018)<\/span> reveals a self-assured artist abandoning the need to prove herself and allowing an unpolished rawness to come through.<\/span>Musically, Dow embellishes her voice and banjo with a large palette of instruments, including a rhythm section of drums and bass, a small string section, electric and acoustic guitars, and pedal steel, which add a cinematic quality to the opening track \u201cBrightest Time of Year.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Overall, the vibe of the band is more laid back than her previous record, with the guitars settling into a deep, Neil Young inspired groove on the first single \u201cSunlight Remembers.\u201d The influence of Gillian Welch is still prominent on tracks like \u201cTiger’s Eye,\u201d but the drum-centric arrangement makes the song distinct, rocking harder than anything Welch has produced.<\/span><\/p>\n Interesting musical choices add variety to the album, such as the string section weaving thoughtfully around Dow’s voice on \u201cSomething Lost,\u201d or the guest appearance of an accordion that enhances the optimistic tone of \u201cCut and Run.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Confidence and nature are two themes Dow explores in the album’s lyrics. \u201cI’m not the woman you thought I was \/ turn off the lights ’cause I’m burning too bright,\u201d she asserts in the refrain of \u201cToo Bright.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n While nature imagery was prevalent on her first recording, it takes on a mysterious role in the lyrics on <\/span>Comet. <\/span><\/i>Dow is often deliberately vague if the relationship she is singing about is with a human or with some aspect of nature, like on the album’s catchiest song \u201cDreaming of You\u201d (which features a surprising, 80’s-New Wave-inspired guitar hook). <\/span><\/p>\n This vagueness makes the rare moments where Dow does sing of romantic love more compelling: \u201cI wanna watch light fill the scoop of your collar bone in the morning sun,\u201d she pleads on \u201cCut and Run.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The most recognizable image of Carly Dow is with her banjo, and among all the instrumentation on the album the banjo is central, a rhythmically grounding anchor. The album closer \u201cConstellation\u201d encapsulates the artist’s newfound self-absurdness, as she sings accompanied solely by her banjo the affirmation \u201cI am a builder, I am a lover \/ I am enough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Jesse Popeski Carly Dow’s 2015 debut Ingrained introduced a bold and ambitious folk artist to the Canadian music scene. Her sophomore album Comet (October 19th, 2018) reveals a self-assured artist abandoning the need to prove herself and allowing an unpolished rawness to come through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1420,160,168,1421,213,360,590,747,806,818,1104],"class_list":["post-11296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-canada","tag-carly-dow","tag-comet","tag-country","tag-folk","tag-manitoba","tag-pop","tag-rock","tag-roots","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11299,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11296\/revisions\/11299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}