Kate McDonnell, Where the Mangoes Are (Appleseed, 2005)
Where the Mangoes Are is the fourth album by singer-songwriter Kate McDonnell, who crafts a nice blend of rock, blues, and folk. Looking through the discography on her Web site, I note that since her debut album in 1994, McDonnell has averaged one every four years or so. This isn't some songwriter who sets stream-of-consciousness doggerel to basic melodies and square, predictable harmonies. Her songs make clear the amount of effort and thought she puts into them.
This isn't to imply that McDonnell's work has that overworked, sterile feel of the soulless perfectionist, either. Her songs have that wonderful quality found in all the best folk artists of springing from her own life and experiences; two songs in particular -- "Hey Joe" and "Luis" -- sound as though McDonnell has set to music one side of a conversation. I should single out "Hey Joe" here for special mention, as it's a song that has one of those hooks that will have you humming its melody for quite a while after the song has ended. "Luis," on the other hand, is a sad song of grief that starts with a lyric about a burial and proceeds on to a meditation on the departed loved one.
Other songs are no less personal, and McDonnell's lyrics (often co-written by Anne Lindley) are full of specific imagery, such as the wildfires in Colorado evoked in "Fires" and a stopped clock in "5:05." The best songs on Where the Mangoes Are deal with either love or loss, sometimes both. I was less entranced with "Mercy," the album's lone song of specifically topical politics, and "Lemon Marmalade," whose mood doesn't seem to match the rest of the album. The overall tone here isn't really sadness per se but wistful remembrance, and if I found myself once or twice hoping for a more up-tempo number, at least the mood itself is well-served by each song here ("Lemon Marmalade" excepted).
The album's sound is well-balanced, with the sparse acoustic instrumentals never drowning out the vocals but never fading too far into the background, either. McDonnell's guitar work is excellent (according to her site, she plays an upside-down and backwards guitar), and she is a smart enough songwriter to craft songs that lie perfectly within the range of her alto voice.
Where the Mangoes Are is a fine, confident album in which the artist's professionalism and skill are always on display. I look forward to hearing what McDonnell does next. I only hope that it's out before 2009.
