Alaskan singer/songwriter Sjofn’s debut album, Secret, currently available through UK’s Parallax Sounds, showcases her skill at song crafting. Her simple guitar strumming or drone-like picking and clear little-girl voice set the tone for this album. The title cut, “Secret,” and “Let Me Be” are naked tracks with just Sjofn’s voice and her solo guitar work.
Most of the songs are equally naked and somewhat simplistic, but Sjofn is able to complete a thought and deliver that with skill. “Work Song,” with its banjo, washtub bass, and Paul Monsarrat’s clarinet is an odd combination. But it is characteristic of the creative risks Sjofn is taking with this album. The addition of Paul Monsarrat’s clarinet on “Hey Ho,” “Vagabond,” and “Ordinary Girl,” in particular, is a musical leap, without dropping into jugband or klezmer. It’s an unexpected touch that slips the work into something other than standard folk or Americana and well into Sjofn’s own creation.
Besides’s Monsarrat’s clarinet, he also plays banjo, tin whistle, and washtub bass. Christina Brown also assists on washtub bass, Leif Ericson adds fiddle, and Jesse Gunn plays electric guitar and fatcat strings. Their skills are most noticeable in “Preacher’s Son,” where Sjofn’s guitar and vocals are enhanced by the addition of Leif Ericson’s mournful fiddle.
But it is in “Missouri,” a breakup song, where the full band’s talents shine. This is only one of two tracks on the album that have backup vocals. It also has more production that any of the others, including Monsarrat’s clarinet but also two guitars, an electric guitar, and also shaker and a few licks from a hand drum. Very nicely done. So Sjofn can create multi-layered arrangements. She just chooses not to most of the time.
Sjofn does experiment. There are two cuts on the CD that I would simply call theater pieces. Married People” begins with a monolog by Sjofn and ends with one line repeatedly sung. It’s very brief. The last track on the album, “Ahh” tells a story though sounds such as walking out of the rain, wolves, a door opening and closing, a heartbeat, glass breaking, a scream, a shot, then a rewind. What follows is a mix of sounds that don’t seem to have much to do with the first group of noises. But it’s very intriguing.
All of the seventeen songs on this album are very short. In fact, the whole album is only 44 minutes long. There are no long instrumentals or elaborate poetic rants. But what is there is interesting to listen to and that’s saying a lot. Instead of mimicking a lot of the fluff that’s on disc, Sjofn has chosen to use a simpler vehicle and let her songs, her voice, and unusual instrumental choices carry her work. It’s really a bold idea. It’s no wonder then that Sjofn has been in demand at folk festivals all over the globe. It will be interesting to see what else she will pull out of her bag of tricks in future albums.
Review by Janie Franz
