Posted on 09/02/2008
It’s odd how music can find you at just the right time. Ironically enough, I popped in This Storm on a torrential Monday morning. The office was quiet and being a bit of a vampire, all the lights were out, casting a hazy shadow over the expanse of the room with its large desks and sofas overlooking damp SoHo streets. The news of Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes’ unexpected deaths still swam in my head along with the grief of extended family, a close friend’s pal back home had his young wife die suddenly of an aneurysm. While trying to find the words of comfort to send via the impersonal medium of email, Sonya Kitchell’s words from “Robin In The Snow” caught my attention: “Who will miss you when you’re gone/I will miss you if you go away/Please don’t leave me here.” It was so beautifully melancholy that I suddenly didn’t feel obligated to uplift any mourners. Instead, I might gift this album to allow them to waft away in the temporary sadness and yet find hope by the album’s last spin.

The bleary-eyed outlook of The Storm is balanced by quiet optimism. Kitchell seems clear in her emotional intent, rather than overwhelm you with how you should feel, she intuitively taps into what you’re already experiencing and provides the soundtrack. Kitchell accessorizes each song with some flare to stop this from being a collection of depressing melodies, like her whispered urgency on “Fire” or the lilting harmonica backing the folksy “Here to There” as Kitchell lets her country flare out to play. She runs the gamut from the airiness of Sarah McLachlan on upbeat songs like “Effortless” to hints of a more melodic Ani DeFranco on “A Soldier’s Lament.”

This Storm is probably not an album that will accompany me to my old age. Next month, next week, even tomorrow, we’ll all be on the mend and ready to dance to M.I.A. again. But This Storm will continue to hold a specific place in my catalog, if not for its solid structure from beginning to end, than for its great timing.

- Candace L.