I’ve finally done my first CD review for blogcritics.org for HEM’s Rabbit Songs. It’s harder than it looks to put into words how you feel about a group of songs. I’ll have to work on that.

I posted the review at blogcritics and I’ve included it here as well. I should note that Levi was the one who originally discovered her music. She opened at a Beth Orton concert he was at and liked the music enough to buy the album.

The sound of Sally Ellyson’s a capella voice starts the album off and by the end you wish she would keep on singing. The songs are accompanied by guitar, mandolin, piano and the occasional glockenspiel and there is a good variety of each.

I’ve been pleased to find that this is the type of CD you can listen to multiple times in a row and then realize that the lyrics are saying a whole lot more than you originally thought. Her gentle voice can lull you into a state of meditation and nostalgia and then another song will make your toe start tapping. The lyrics are intimate and give you the impression that she’s talking directly to you, about herself. Speaking of which, I might as well let her speak for herself.

but someday when my heart exhales
i’ll tell you everything
these sweet words spilling all about us
i’ll say please please be with me