Denver-based singer-songwriter’s sophomore album reveals a seasoned artist delving into the personal and social challenges of this troubled modern world.
Carolyn Shulman grew up in Mobile, Alabama, and by the time she was fourteen she was already writing songs and playing coffee shops and restaurants. Her student years took her to Rice University, Houston, Texas, where she continued to perform, including competing as a finalist in the University Songwriters Showcase at the 2002 Kerrville Folk Festival. Her musical aspirations were for a while scaled back as she earned her law degree, practising in Huston for seven years before, in 2014, a move to Denver with her husband and one year old daughter brought about the decision to cease her legal career and refocus on her lifelong passion for music. Initially stating out as part of the duo, The Truth About August, with fellow singer-songwriter Jen Hitt, Shulman released her first solo album “Grenadine & Kerosene”, in 2021 to much critical praise, and now delivers her sophomore offering “Heart On A Wire”.
Produced, as was her debut, by John McVey, at Cinder Sound Studio, Longmont, Colorado, Shulman’s new offering displays a distinct progression both in song structure and lyrical narrative, drawing on a smorgasbord of themes that delicately dances between hope and joy, burnout and rejuvenation, parent-child relationships and the search for a better world. Traits of her musical influences can be detected in her own writing style with such luminaries as Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Patty Griffin being recognisable touchstones, though on repeated listening one can’t help but detect the essence of Nanci Griffith, which is clearly no bad thing.
The album opens with the title track that finds Shulman desperately seeking a safe place to land, weary of the turmoil that embroils today’s world, but still believing, or at least hoping good will prevail. ‘Bolt Out Of The Blue’, is a story of star-crossed lovers who suffer the cruelest fate “one strike, her heart beat no more”, while ‘All Burned Out’, sees an increase in tempo thanks to the rhythm section of Christian Teele on drums and Bradley Morse on bass, as Shulman craves the need to be a better person in a better world demanding “Someone stop this ride we’re on, it’s a kamikaze ego bomb”. The following number ‘Old Farm House’, continues the desire to escape, even if only in a fleeting moment’s glance to the past, before ‘Call My Heart Home’, refocuses the mind to the daily challenges of parenting.
Musically the flavour oscillates between the sparseness of voice and acoustic guitar to that of a full band helping to create the necessary change in gear whilst always accentuating the nuance of each track, which the following number ‘No Sad Songs’, is a perfect example offering some fine Pedal Steel from Glenn Taylor, while the following song ‘Little Sparrow’, is awash of Bluegrass with Enion Pelta’s fiddle and McVey’s banjo joyously propelling the track along.
In truth the two highlights of the album come towards the end of the album with ‘Sunflower Seeds’, delivering a compelling lyrical narrative on the current plight of Ukraine and the war’s effect on its citizens, many forced to leave their country and their families. However, this is not a flag-waving, chest-pumping song of patriotism but rather focuses on the inevitable price being paid, as Shulman sings “I won’t be a pawn in someone’s Pyrrhic victory” followed by “I gave the soldiers seeds (for) Sunflowers rise above the weeds”. The imagery is both powerful and stark with a vocal delivery that’s bereft of emotion, instead focussing fully on capturing the sense of emptiness and hopelessness, resulting in one of the most moving performance of the year so far. The last number ‘Eye To Eye’, is almost its equal in lyrical potency, littered with eloquent lines that leave you deep in thought long after the song has ended, such as “sowing mines in the ground where seeds should grow, what we nurture’s what we’ll grow”, and “who wants to be a survivor when there’s only ashes left behind”, that immediately draw comparison to the Ukrainian conflict but could just as well have a more personal connotation as she sings “draw blood with a sharp sound bite, and dodge bullet points from the left and right”. It is at the same time both incredibly effective and mightily clever. In between these two formidable tracks ‘Little Reprieve’, attempts to offer just that, with its rock guitar riff and rather frivolous lyrics, trying too hard to create a sense of levity, which in truth are unnecessary and somewhat distracting.
With “Heart On A Wire”, Shulman has done enough to confidently propel herself to the next level as a singer-songwriter, displaying an acute and highly individual lyrical narrative. Yes, at times the myriad of emotional trials could be guilty of trying to cover too much ground but where it works, which is where Shulman is at her bravest, it delivers on the highest level. One hopes that going forward she continues to trust her instincts, and avoids playing too safe, in which case her third album should be a must-have. In the meantime her sophomore offering is definitely one worth checking out.
