Vue Weekly, Edmonton AB
New Sounds: Pamela Brennan
Eden Munro / eden@vueweekly.com
Pamela Brennan's One Hundred Photographs plays more or less by the
rules of strummy folk and country music. But that doesn't mean that Brennan
doesn't deliver a killer set of songs that is as perfect for the (hopefully)
near days of summer as it is for a cold and chilly, blustery day. The tunes are
inviting, sounding raw and real, with the band carrying the music, sketching
out intriguing fills along the way without stepping on Brennan's toes. That
serves the record well, because Brennan's voice is at its heart—her sculpted
melodies pulling you into the song's midst with the twist of a word. She throws
a little "Wo-ho-ho" into the verses of "Amsterdam"; it's not a lot in terms of
complexity, but it's the sort of thing that can make a song, elevating it
beyond the norm and into the realm of beauty. And Brennan does that again and
again on One Hundred Photographs, her voice dipping and weaving between
disarming, hopeful, broken—whatever the song calls out for.