Category:
Singer/Songwriter

Try if you like:
Lucinda Williams, Oh Susanna, Sarah Harmer

•   Asking For Flowers

Asking for Flowers is the third record from Canadian alt-country favourite Kathleen Edwards, and it is also the most confusing. She takes lyrical and conceptual risks with these songs, and while you have to admire the courage with which she writes and sings, the hit-and-miss nature of the result will leave you scratching your head.

It's not that these songs are bad - it's more that there is one element of practically all of them that just doesn't sit quite right, that isn't indicative of what Edwards does best, that crosses some sort of indefinable line. Opener 'Buffalo' is promising enough, dramatically enriching Edwards' musical palette. The difference between 'Buffalo' and the following song, 'The Cheapest Key,' is a critical lesson for Edwards - she wears sadness well, but not bitterness. While she usually uses her grit to her advantage, there is something over-the-top about her singing "B is for bullshit and you fed me some," while wearing her predictable Blue Rodeo musical influence for all to see.  

The sad, down-tempo title track is a return to form, while 'Alicia Ross' will go down as one of Edwards' most profound songs. Written from the perspective of the Toronto-area homicide victim in the last moments of her life, the song demonstrates Edwards' obvious desire to go deeper in her lyrical concepts than alt-country usually goes, and though too often relying on cliches, it's one of the record's strongest features. Things fall apart completely, however, on 'I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory,' where Edwards sings - in all seriousness - "You're the Great One, I'm Marty McSorely,"? one of too many instances on this record where her cleverness defeats her purpose rather than supporting it. Yet in the next breath, 'Sure As Shit' is arguably the record's finest song.

Asking for Flowers is a competent release with some first-rate moments, but so up-and-down that as whole, it can't be taken as a step forward.