Sarah Donner - Black Hole Heart (2016)

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MUSIC VIDEO: (PHOENIX)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j13Jwyb-AnA

Written by Frank McClure, posted by blog admin

One of the most beautiful aspects of Sarah Donner’s album Black Hole Heart is how fresh these familiar acoustic soundscapes sound in her hands. Donner has an unique talent for making the textures and tones of traditional folk music come alive with an almost pop-song like energy and has a penchant for structuring her folk-influenced tunes in a manner that mimics the orchestrations common in pop songs. It makes many of the tracks on Black Hole Heart stand out in a crowded musical style where it’s often a struggle to tell the difference between various musicians. Donner also possesses a set of pipes that rate among the most expressive instruments either on the indie or mainstream scene today – she comes off, truly, as a singer capable of handling any material. She wisely writes songs, however, that play to her strengths and the dozen songs on Black Hole Heart are fully realized musical pieces with considerable melodic and vocal strengths.   

The best possible opening for the album is “Phoenix” and Donner, thankfully, concurs. The melodicism of the vocal and arrangement alike have a gentle, but lively, glitter that work perfectly together and Donner gives one of her best singing performances while still lacking some of the overt vocal pyrotechnics we hear on later tracks. Piano and acoustic guitar work extremely well together on the superbly constructed “Black Hole Heart” and the personal nature of the lyric nevertheless touches on emotions we can all relate to and wisely avoids too many specific details that might isolate it from our experience. The folk song influences running through “Tamsen Donner 1847” somewhat obscure the five star writing job that forms the heart of the song. Donner’s done a great job conjuring the atmosphere of a doomed voyage in her lyrics and the crystalline musical backing is quite appropriate for the work. The rustic, bluegrass tinged qualities of “Athena” means the song is essentially cut from the same cloth as the aforementioned “Tamsen Donner 1847”, but the jaunty air of the musical arrangement couldn’t contrast any sharper with the earlier song’s mood.

Mike Batchlor’s organ work and fine trumpet playing from Phillip Fillion distinguish “The Flood” musically from the surrounding songs. Donner’s vocal excellence is just as impactful with the added instrumentation and she clearly draws a certain degree of inspiration from the near-shuffle guitar and unusual instrumentation. Some humor creeps in near the end of “The Longest Road”, but this is otherwise another affecting, personally-slanted tune that Donner gives a zesty, impassioned reading of. “Sinking Ship” is reminiscent of the earlier “Tamsen Donner 1847” in a few ways, but it’s most notable another character driven piece where Donner embodies the voice for a narrator on the cusp of losing their life. Despite the weighty scenario, the music maintains a tasteful air rife with haunting atmospherics. Black Hole Heart solidifies Donner’s standing as one of the best singer/songwriters working on the indie scene today.