Shelley Short

A Cave, A Canoo

(HUSH)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

“There’s a party, and I’m gonna go,” Shelley Short sings sweetly at the top of A Cave, A Canoo.  And so she does – but only to hide under a table and study shoes.  That sounds about right, as what unfolds from there is probably 2009’s worst party album.  Alright, that’s an exaggeration; Short is operating in super-sparse mode for much of the album, though, and there’s little on the table beyond her airy vocals, softly played acoustic guitar, and restrained instrumentation (a flute here, trumpet there).  She’s confident enough to know that she doesn’t need a lot of embellishment.  With such perfectly pure and utterly unforced vocals, intimacy and simplicity are the best friends a producer could have – and credit here also goes to the patient hand of collaborator Alexis Gideon.  A Cave, A Canoo is a tranquil, graceful collection of songs from a consistently rewarding singer/songwriter.

There are country-kissed moments throughout the record, like the mournful “Mockingbird” (one of the standouts), but she’s generally underplayed that hand in comparison to her past pair of albums.  This may be part of the reason why A Cave, A Canoo seems even more low-key, and its melodic hooks less sharp than, say, Captain Wild Horse Rides the Heart of Tomorrow.  So it’s an album that doesn’t so insistently and immediately burrow into your subconscious, but instead offers a slower burn that’s still plenty satisfying in its own right.