This Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter has now reached the milestone of a tenth solo album but who's been paying attention?
Well, Lucinda Williams has, for one. She has called Ana Egge "the folk Nina Simone" and Shawn Colvin has also said that she “has the rare gift of being so eloquent and simple".
Despite this high praise, Egge remains relatively unknown and, unfortunately, it is doubtful that this latest collection will change that. This is what you get for having a modest, un-showy stage demeanor and for writing intelligent but understated songs that are easy on the ear.
Egge's parents 'dropped out' and raised her, and her three sisters, as free spirits living in North Dakota, on a bus on the California Coast and at a hot springs commune in rural New Mexico. This unconventional upbringing feeds into her song writing even though she is now a full grown married woman with a daughter of her own.
Western Movie recalls her adolescence by reference to Martin Scorsese's 'Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore' and the opener, Girls, Girls, Girls, tells the story of a young lesbian excited about what NYC has to offer. Last Ride is based on a memory of a brief romance after she borrowed her uncle's motorbike and took off down a California Interstate.
These would all make ideal subjects for hard-edged rock tunes but they are instead presented with gentle acoustic arrangements and some tasteful strings.
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Less incongruously, Dance Around The Room With Me takes a more domesticated theme of a young mother serenading her 4-year old daughter. The folk settings are also well suited to poetic and personal love songs like Be With You and You Among The Flowers.
Perhaps best of all, the title track is an affirmative song about embracing doubts and fears composed to give encouragement to a friend in dire need of support and direction and advises her, metaphorically, to "Keep your eyes on the tiger / Feed him, let him be your guide".
All but one of the ten tunes are originals. The one cover is of John 'Gentle On My Mind' Hartford's In Tall Buildings , which finds her duetting with Billy Strings. This song reassures us that Egge is safely clear of the deadening 9-5 world of office life in the city and the brief closing song offers a sound alternative: "Open the window and"Let The Light In.
It's a nice note to end on for this warm-hearted album that plays gentle on the heart.
Ana Egge's website
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