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Named for the mythical Egyptian city where dead souls go to be reborn, Saqqara represents singer-songwriter Caron Vikre's
most uplifting recording to date. This CD features twelve more great Vikre songs with richly textured vocal harmonies and lead guitar work that is subtle and sophisticated. Fans of her self-titled first release will appreciate the evolution of Caron's songwriting and production.
Saqqara has been a favorite of European audiences since its release, continuing to receive widespread radio airplay all across the continent, becoming especially popular throughout Scandinavia, Dennark, Belgium and Austria. It has also earned the distinction of being named "Album Pick of the Month" in the Bavarian region of Germany.
Caron Vikre has established herself as one of Sacramento’s most gifted songstresses. Her compositions are melancholy tales of lost love and lost people, while her upbeat pop arrangements belie the sadness of these lyrics. Caron’s enchanting voice is reminiscent of Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs. Saqqara is full of poetic imagery and compelling songs.
Paul’s Opin: Caron has a marvelous lyrical sense. With songs like “Little Murders” (“Sunday’s sad sleepy sky / punched and pussed like a fighter’s eye”) and “Every Little Bit Hurts” (“When the stars in the field and their dead eyes fix”), she attains status as one of our finest poets-in-residence. Her rich voice strengthens these words with its deep enunciation. But musically, I feel this release could use a bit more pizazz. Caron creates fine vocal harmonies and melodies that carry a tune well, but where’s the musical flourish that this strong material deserves? A bit more of a dynamic back-up band would do the trick because this one is not altogether up to par with the vocals and lyrics. With word out that the band for Saqqara is out, maybe the new one will do the trick. The cover art by Roland Vikre is outstanding.
Rob’s Opin: With a voice that is just as at home belting out in a soul-tinted shout as it is in a shimmering, delicate folk cry, Vikre uses her second-best talent to deliver her best talent: the songwriting. Here, it is of an unsurpassed quality. Although it tends to get a bit metaphorical and even abstract at times, it works well with the texture of this album. That texture is a glassy-smooth landscape that at times reflects the drifting banks of powdery white clouds above. This sometimes happy, sometimes melancholy collection is a wonderful showcase of this remarkable singer’s talent. Although at times the accompanying music threatens to sabotage the work with its meekness, the rangy vocals as the ultimate centerpiece command your attention.
Like the mythical Saqqara--the Egyptian city where dead souls go to be reborn--her new music represents an albums worth of psychic release.
Café Montreal on a Friday night is an odd place to be waxing metaphysical. Still, I can’t help wondering if this is real. Judging by the pie-eyed reaction of the conservative audience-most of whom look like they would blister under exposure to Nirvana-neither can anyone else.
Up there on the tiny stage, carving a place for herself in the red liquid light, a singer-songwriter named Caron Vikre is casually wrapping us in a musical spell. She sings: “Delicate as dawn upon a killing spree, you’re snake charming me.” She sings: “I’m a faith healer, honey, on a shadow of doubt, in a tall bed of money with my mercy mouth.”
With each fresh image the spell thickens. It’s as if we had discovered a brilliant painting under the dust of a garage sale. Vikre seems to sense what’s happening. She stares directly at each person, confronting them with moonbeam eyes that do not falter, shock-lifting us out of our furtive, musical voyeurism. The effect is disconcertingly hypnotic.
“I want to make my music a conversation,” explains Vikre (rhyme it with Spike Lee), who once toyed with an acting career. “I want to talk directly with the audience rather than have a separation between us.”
Over the next two hours we will feast on a banquet of her one-sided conversation-stunning original pop and rock tunes exploring enough life and death issues to fill a Bergman film. And as the night progresses, it gradually dawns on us that we are witnessing a living cliché: the performance of an undiscovered star. Because even though Vidre’s first locally produced album out sold Madonna in Sacramento record stores, and even though her latest album features a stunning blend of vocal artistry and sophisticated melody, she remains a virtual unknown ouside River City.
Hollywood just ain’t calling.
---Todd Stein
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Harmony Ridge Music or : e-mail: hrmusic@hrmusic.com |
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