Jennifer O’Connor
(Matador)
Jennifer O'Connor's third album, 2006's Over The Mountain, Across The Valley And Back To The Stars dealt with mortality and loss with unvarnished honesty, and her plainspoken delivery suited the songs' emotional forthrightness. Here With Me retains that understated quality, but it lacks the tension and friction, in part because of the predominance of love songs.
"Highway Miles" rolls along to a steady acoustic strum and an electric guitar solo laced with twangy reverb, and "Landmine" is sparse and prayerful (until some feedback creeps in), but they're singer-songwriterly and too close to Indigo Girls territory. "I want to give myself to you," she sings to her lover in "Days Become Months," but while she holds nothing back in her pledges, the slow and steady pace make it a standard pillow-talk proclamation with little risk involved. When she fleshes out the arrangements - as on the delightfully lilting "Always In Your Mind" or the jangle-rocking "Daylight Out" - Here With Me matches Mountain's heights, but otherwise, it has more valleys than peaks.
Standout Tracks: "Always In Your Mind," "Daylight Out" STEVE KLINGE
