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First, I'd like to have all comparisons put away -as odious as they can be. To compare her with Joni Mitchell is not right or wrong, it's simply absurd and unfair. It is absurd to compare a first album to an artist who's a standard for Folk music and who has produced stunning work, both musically and lyrically for over thirty years -sure, there's the 80's ... but even those years could cause the envy of many singers-songwriters- and who has given us not just great songs but anthems for more than one generation. That is why it 's also unfair ... what service could it provide a young, talented artist to be compared to a legend of popular music?
Actually, if you're looking for a "frame of reference," someone you may be familiar with, to figure out what she sounds like, I'd think of Norah Jones -second and last comparison- since her voice, her tone more than her phrasing, does remind you of the young American singer. Now, where Jones is "jazzier," Polly Paulusma is "folkier". OK ... end of comparisons. Polly is indeed a great a new arrival, someone I ventured to expect only greater things from, although if this were to be her only album, she should be proud of it, and you should be happy to own it. Paulusma is a great singer and an extremely accomplished composer, in other words, a great, new voice.
Wow ... what a tender sensibility, what a capacity to evoke the intimacy of her thoughts and feelings in song after song! If she's as young as I understand she is, Polly must have the benefit of past lives to bestow upon her such maturity. From "Dark Side" on -the very first song- her lyrics announce her poetic craft ("it gets cold on my dark side of the moon / the air is thin and chill / come and show me what the gray world looks like when it's blue") or, in "I Was Made To Love You" when she sings "if I send you my angel, would you send your to me?."
See, most people associate tenderness with youth, I'd say it's a sign of early, yet serious, wisdom. "She Moves n Secret Ways" -perhaps, where my thoughts of Norah Jones arose from- is another stunning example of her singing and songwriting's talent, listen to her beautiful singing over a gorgeous melody, where she says "on a river of sighs, a boat came toward me / a flimsy disguise covered the devil / who sang from a song sheet of how modern life's a bore / in his choirboys' attire, he sang me the life / to which good girls aspire, where men in white coats / give us pills to tame the horses that stamp on our floors / and pills for when the horses have bolted out the door." I don't know about you but I'm impressed, this is not clever technique, this is a woman, sweetly, waving the fierce flag of her right to express her power. And there's "Carry Home" and "Mea Culpa" which are simply pretty, as long as "pretty" is a word you've learned to respect. "Anywhere From Here" is another felicitous marriage of words and melody, in a serious way. So is "Something To Remember Me By." Yes ... I'm already looking forward to a long and enriching contribution from her. Call it what she's inspired me to expect but, make sure, to spare her any pressure. Thank you, Polly. (Amazon review)
