August 3, 2000

Saint Low

Let this album pour itself into your soul. [a]Saint Low[/a] are a redemption.

8 / 10 It's sounds all too familiar. An American woman with an acoustic guitar, singing folk-tinged tales that chronicle lost loves and so on. Thankfully, Saint Low bares no resemblance to an Ally McBeal soundtrack, but is instead a tender, elegant and decidedly understated opus.

/img/SaintLow0800.jpg Saint Low is the solo project of Madder Rose's velvet-voiced frontwoman Mary Lorson - a collection of works deemed unsuitable to appear on any Madder Rose release because of the more subdued and emotional nature of the songs. And imagine that. Yet with this self-penned album we have what should have been the parent group's commercial saving grace.

Like a hazy summer afternoon, the music here floats by. Sweeping violins, pianos and acoustic guitars, predominate, and as the lush melodies begin to blossom, Saint Low becomes wondrous. 'Crash', the most exquisite track ("It's a gas/It's a ride/You could crash/You could die") shows Lorson at her most astonishingly touching. Whereas the appropriately titled 'Dreamland' reveals the other side - more positive, maybe, but still tugging at the heartstrings.

Let this album pour itself into your soul. Saint Low are a redemption.