Anyway, I read somewhere that she is an ambassador for our whisky (and I had something of a hangover due to an extended tasting of that very beverage) so Heather Greene’s album “Five Dollar Dress” seemed an appropriate choice for some mellow musical diversion until the fog of impending cirrhosis cleared.
Released way back in 2006 – yesterday seems like a long time ago these days – I recall that this album garnered some critical acclaim at the time. In retrospect, it is an album of its time and it is also a very decent example of what wistful female singer songwriters were doing in New York at that time. Did that sound like an insult? Well it’s not for this is an album that exudes an urban charm that escapes the boundaries of the coffee shop where you might expect to hear it playing.
Subtlety is the key here. Ms Greene’s voice gently strokes the back of your neck as she casts her spell. Wrapping her version of The Car’s “Just What I Needed” in a woolly scarf to protect it from the cold of the big city works out surprisingly well and neatly segues it into her own songs with the cool grooving bedroom pseudo disco of “Hold Me Down” easily scoring points with the part time night people out there and the big ballad of “Daybreak” diverting neatly into Carole King territory.
Ms Greene’s voice is a civilised voice that never forces itself upon you. Her songs likewise drift smoothly by your ears on the first listen but reward more on subsequent acquaintance when a curious affinity develops between listener and performer with the songs forming a sugar coated conduit through life’s little mysteries.