"The Foundling". Mary Gauthier.

Mary Gauthier on this album stares into the abyss and confronts certain primordial elements that haunt her existence.
"Blood is blood. Blood don't wash away.
 I don't know who I am, I don't know who I'm not".

Angst ridden and alienated because there is no God? No! Far worse! It is the utter and insurmountable despair she suffers as a consequence of being abandoned by her birth mother! Lyrics lay bare the profound impact this existential obstacle has had on Gauthier. Musical instrumentation is enlisted to elevate the mood to a raw melancholic level. Accordion wafts in and out evoking the loneliness of Parisian streets where the sad soul of Piaff wonders. Haunting violin strains create a space where "the cold wind blows across sky dull and gray'', a place where bad memories loiter.

There might be too much gloom and unease for some but for me this is an album that is musically and emotionally both engaging and enriching. The more you listen to it the more its subdued musical  vitality is revealed. Some musical passages will have you doing a 123 slow waltz, with just you on the dance floor. Other passages will have you doing a Cajun two step, this time with a partner but you still have to floor to yourself. Violin strains in places merge into a squawking and screeching  that puts  you on edge as if someone has become has just scraped their fingernails across a blackboard.

A musical highlight is the track ‘Singer in the sideshow’. This time there is a tuba and   trad jazz  taking you to New Orleans! It could be a slow funeral march down Magazine Street. Sure there is sadness at losing a loved one but it is also a celebration of that loved one’s life. One hopes the album is cathartic for Gauthier and gives some solace, allowing her to musically embrace not just the ‘downers’ that life throws at you but also the ‘uppers’ and all those in between bits as well.

Gauthier, the troubled troubadour states  "too many songs about happiness leave me sad, lonely and depressed". Well a measured dose of songs about being sad, lonely and depressed can be strangely uplifting! Listen and  lament with Gauthier sure but along the way be engaged by the musical vitality on offer.
David Stoeckel