Album Review: Elaine Palmer - Some Seek Some Seek Gold
With gritty guitar and worn voice, Elaine Palmer hits the right tone from the first beat to shape a slate of songs spun on a transatlantic axis. Arizona and North Yorkshire hold special affection in the heart of this British singer-songwriter and together with a part recording in Northern Ireland a cosmopolitan thread generously laces a mini album mightier than the slender first impressions. Seven tracks and a fraction under half hour running time is sufficient for Palmer to deal a winning hand and impressively add SOME SEEK SILVER SOME SEEK GOLD to a growing back catalogue.
The tracks are neatly packaged with a detectable rhythm to the order. A pair of bangers to kick off, a couple of complementary slower tracks in the middle and a diverse finale encompassing the wide expanses of Americana music. Opener ‘Some Seek Silver’ is best framed by a poignant ending and a wholesome representation of a vocal style alt round the edges and milder in the middle. It leads into the absolute quality trappings of ‘I Still Feel the Same’, an ultra standout capable of gracing and enhancing any playlist. The intensity is lowered for the twinning of ‘Roses’ and ‘Once Were Lovers’ as a moving effect settles into the listening psyche.
To imply that Brits can mix with the best there are shades of Mary meets Lucinda in ‘The Losing Hand’ or Gauthier and Williams for the less familiar. The sound swerves into atmospheric country territory for ‘Telling of the Bees’ before a closer decorated with a rocky twang seals the gift for anybody willing to chance a record that meets an ideal. The guitar solo part towards the end of ‘The Wildest Storms’ pictures the rolling credits of a movie and it is this cinematic undercurrent that drives the plot along.
Decadent twang with a punk twinge propels the album into the arms of those with a taste for something left leaning and ripe for evocative interpretation. SOME SEEK SILVER SOME SEEK GOLD expresses a diverse intent and Elaine Palmer merges an urbane compactness and a sweeping rural landscape to make an album of commendable merit.
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