{"id":505,"date":"2010-02-04T09:50:15","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T15:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=505"},"modified":"2010-02-04T09:50:15","modified_gmt":"2010-02-04T15:50:15","slug":"review-tara-jane-oneil-a-ways-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2010\/02\/04\/review-tara-jane-oneil-a-ways-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Tara Jane O&#8217;Neil &#8211; A Ways Away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>TARA JANE O\u2019NEIL<br \/>\n<em>A Ways Away<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-506\" title=\"tarajane\" src=\"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/tarajane.jpg\" alt=\"tarajane\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" \/>On her fifth album (and her first for K Records), the wonderful Tara Jane O\u2019Neil gives further proof that she\u2019s no ordinary singer-songwriter. Consciously soaked in reverb (the album fittingly closes with a song called \u201cThe Drowning Electric\u201d), the tracks that make up <em>A Ways Away<\/em> are melancholic and spacious, meticulously arranged and completely absorbing. O\u2019Neil has once again hit upon a beautiful balance of style and substance. <em>A Ways Away<\/em>\u2019s 36 minutes of introspective haze, accented by delicate guitarwork and a slew of guests (including notables like Mirah, Osa Atoe and Ida), seems too short. With an album this good, it\u2019s hard to pick out standout tracks. \u201cDrowning\u201d is a haunting song of loss, propelled forward with sparse rhythm and a sweeping electric bridge that falls like a curtain across the chorus. The aching \u201cHowl\u201d might have been the album\u2019s centerpiece, had it not first appeared on 2004\u2019s You Sound, Reflect; regardless, O\u2019Neil gives it new life here, adding rhythm, strings, and stirring vocals. \u201cDig In,\u201d the lead-off track, skates over the clatter of sleigh-bells, with O\u2019Neil\u2019s guitarlines escaping and returning to the song\u2019s root chord again and again (later, \u201cPearl Into Sand\u201d circles back and picks up the same theme). Her songs may be simple and familiar, but the reassuring A Ways Away sounds about as good as coming in from the cold. (K Records, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.krecs.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.krecs.com<\/a>) <strong>Jonathan Dyck<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TARA JANE O\u2019NEIL A Ways Away On her fifth album (and her first for K Records), the wonderful Tara Jane O\u2019Neil gives further proof that she\u2019s no ordinary singer-songwriter. Consciously soaked in reverb (the album fittingly closes with a song called \u201cThe Drowning Electric\u201d), the tracks that make up A Ways Away are melancholic and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[623,938],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-mirah","tag-tara-jane-oneil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}