Music Review: Wildflowers in the Graveyard
Amber Rubarth is one of those experienced song writers who is simply getting better with time. Her latest Wildflowers in the Graveyard released as we began our month long vacation and I'm only getting around to it now. This was unfortunate because the album would have definitively been the "soundtrack" of our road trip.
Rubarth voice has certainly matured without losing any of its unique quality (comparisons to Deb Talan are legitimate). But it’s the maturation of her songwriting that has me hooked. The title track "Wildflowers in the Garden" is brimming with poetic lines and illusions in a rather short amount of time:
All the answers I’ve been hoping to find are written in the water. Written in footsteps that crawl across the snow, written in memories that change each time they’re told. All the answers I’ve been hoping to find are written in the water.
"Moon" displays Rubarth's curious and artful song construction style. "Canyon Lines" is catchy and thoughtfully rueful. "If I Fall Asleep," "Best I Can," and "As We Walk Into the Night" all capture the heart of the album. Rubarth describes the album as "a slow exploration of nature's cycles of life, death, and rebirth." With each listen, the songs get richer and more cavernous-encouraging yet another cycle of listening.
