Angela Desveaux: Wandering Eyes

Country music Meccas seem to be springing up farther and farther from the South; there is now a thriving scene in Montreal, which boasts Angela Desveaux as one of its stars. She cites heroes such as Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, and her grandmother, and although you may not know her grandmother, this statement still gives a fairly good indication of her sound.

Her voice is slightly sweeter than Williams’, and slightly rougher than Welch’s, but similar to both. She sings simple, unpretentious country songs, and she’s been granted the hipster cred that comes with a Thrill Jockey Records contract.

For Wandering Eyes, she enlisted a rock band and tried to push her sound in a rock direction, but it won’t be mistaken for Black Flag. They did make it occasionally sound more poppy, what with them electric guitars and such, but I wish they hadn’t – it’s distracting.

Most of the album is comfortable country; the bright, boring pop creation “All the Talk” is an unwanted detour. Desveaux is a natural country singer, and when the songs are lonesome, spooky, and full of twang, as on “If Only” and “Make Up Your Mind,” she sounds right at home.

Although Wandering Eyes is merely quite nice, the track “Make Up Your Mind” makes you yearn to lock Desveaux up in a studio with T-Bone Burnett and wait for the inevitable masterpiece to emerge.

– Tom Vale
Angela Desveaux (Thrill Jockey)