Tumbling tunes, a seductive melodic drift, vocals which bounce harmonically around in dream like patterns, Annie Dressner has taken to life on our side of the pond like a natural. A natural that is who allows her American origins to shine through on virtually every track of ‘ Coffee At The Corner Bar.’ Hers is an easy collection to fall in love with.
Last time out she was produced by Nigel Stonier, who through his own work and that for Thea Gilmore, knows a thing or two about creating a contemporary jacket for rootsy sounds. Here Annie’s produced by husband and fellow writer Paul Goodwin, he’s allowed her songs room to breathe and to lodge their story lines in your conscious.
‘ Nyack,’ is a lilting shuffle, brushed drums and blanket keyboards where dreamy lyrics lull you into her world, the following ‘ Dogwood,’ is an unplugged folk song, acoustic guitar simply picked addressing the emotion felt when romance comes unglued, when missing someone becomes acute. ‘Secrets, Tell Me Lies,’ suggests she’d rather pretend than accept reality.
The deeper you delve into the album the more it sounds like she’s reading pages from the diary she keeps hidden in a locked drawer by the side of her bed. ‘I love it when you read to me, you can read anything,’ she coos on ‘The Book Of Love.’
Goodwin’s production is a less sonorous, Anglophile, ambient version of Daniel Lanois superb crafting on Emmylou Harris’s ‘Wrecking Ball,’ he knows what works best for his wife and he’s not afraid to deliver. Seldom does reflection sound this intimate and enticing. Share the coffee and the confession.
Simon Jones.
anniedressner.com
