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Boston Globe Many topics inspire songs: war, love, yellow submarines. For local singer/songwriter Kris Delmhorst, a chance encounter with a Robert Browning poem, and the fact that she had already penned the sultry blues rocker "Water Water," based on Robert Herrick's 1648 poem, "Scare-Fire," led to an entire album of poem-inspired songs. "Strange Conversation" is the fourth album for Delmhorst, who came up in the Cambridge folk scene and recorded 2001's "Five Stories" and 2003's "Songs for a Hurricane" with Morphine's Billy Conway. As she did with Conway, Delmhorst creates a moody sound. Her sweet, sleepy vocals, which sometimes recall Lucinda Williams, keep the album fresh and relaxed, and without the pretense a less experienced songsmith might have brought to the project. "We'll Go No More A-Roving," from Lord Byron's poem of the same name, has a bluesy melancholy laced with lap steel guitar. "Invisible Choir," from George Eliot's "The Choir Invisible" is a Dixie jazz romp. Delmhorst fully owns each poem she uses. So, even for listeners who don't know each song's genesis, the album is an assured model of sophisticated songwriting and heartfelt musicianship. ESSENTIAL TRACK: We'll Go No More A-Roving |
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