Shannon Wright, Dyed In The Wool (Quarterstick) 9+
Shannon Wright, like fellow Atlanta, GA native Chan Marshall (a.k.a. Cat Power), began her solo career with relatively modest, stripped-down folk. On 1999's Moon Pix, Marshall transcended her humble beginnings by employing two-thirds of Australia's The Dirty Three to add cinematic sprawl and beauty. Shannon Wright's third album, Dyed In The Wool, is her Moon Pix. On 1999's Flightsafety and 2000's Maps Of Tacit, Wright handle most of the instruments herself. With her experience in the mid-90s band Crowsdell, her first two albums were more accomplished than the average folkie singer-songwriter, especially when she started experimenting with unique arrangements and instrumentation in her emotionally direct southern ballads. On Dyed In The Wool, she enlists assistance from members of Georgia bands The Glands, Rachel's, Rock A Teens and Japancakes, as well as usual drummer Brian Teasley of Man or Astro-Man?. While the sound is only slightly less stark than previous recordings, everything has come together. Steel strings are delicately picked in minor keys as before, but ominous swells of organs, harmoniums and strings rise and fall with the ebb and flow of spiteful accusations, tender elegies and dread. Her sometimes wavery voice is difficult to describe. The closest comparison might be Kristin Hersh, in early Throwing Muses days, mixed with Babes In Toyland's Kat Bjelland in more feral moments. The pounding piano in "Hinterland" concisely stirs up drama to heights worthy of Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, while the chamber cabaret "A Vessel For A Minor Malady" is a perfectly realized one-act passion play. The dark stylings might seem as if Wright is posing as a goth princess, if it weren't for the convincingly heartfelt lyrics. Songs like "Dyed In The Wool" and "Surly Demise" are not about death in the abstract, but rather intensely personal songs about losing a loved one to illness, possibly Lizzie Dye Hyman, whom the album was dedicated to. This is nervy music that more successful singers like Fiona Apple or Ani DiFranco should aspire to when they finish growing up. Dyed In The Wool is a stellar example of a true artist merging musical progression and life experience into a consistent statement.
