This twelve-track release marks US singer-songwriter Kyle Carey’s third album in recent years. Carey is a singer with a delicious voice and a keen eye and ear for traditional sounds, music that never ages but which seems to grow ever-more, increasingly important. Her last offering, a few years ago, ‘North Star,’ was quite simply one of the finest modern roots-cum-Americana discs out there and, with ‘Art of Forgetting,’ she has again forged a track through the mundane and mediocre modern music world to deliver another true delight.
Produced by Grammy winner, Dirk Powell, a guy who knows his way around the Americana roots scene, Carey is joined by some of the best in the business here: North Carolina’s ex-Chocolate Drop and current favourite, Rhiannon Giddens, Louisiana’s swampy acoustic guitar ace, Sam Broussard, Irish pipe genius, Mike McGoldrick, English fiddler, John McCusker; all heap the quality on with an album that is firmly rooted in tradition with a twist, taking Appalachian roots music back to its original seminal source in Scottish and Irish Gaelic culture.
Carey turns in a few Scottish Gaelic gems, as usual, but here with a fuller sound than we’ve come to expect, and a self-assurance that simply sparkles at every turn. Closing with the ever-popular and beautiful ‘Trouble in the Fields’, from the pen of Nanci Griffith, Carey has come a long way in a short few years and, delightfully, shows no sign of settling down or resting up any time soon. A genuine gem, a true delight, ‘The Art of Forgetting’ is an album to positively savour.
The follow-up to her breakthrough North Star album sees the New Hampshire-born Gaelic Americana singer-songwriter Kyle Carey further exploring her musical fusion of Celtic and Appalachia while augmenting it with inspirations drawn from the American south and Cajun. This time around, recording in Louisiana, she’s enlisted folk A-list support in the form of Rhiannon Giddens, John McCusker and Mike McGoldrick, not to mention guitarist Sam Broussard from Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, brass section Kai Welch and Josh Scalf, percussionist James MacKintosh, bassist (and producer) Dirk Powell and mandolinist Ron Janssen with Gillebrìde Mac’IlleMhaoil and Liz Simmons providing backing vocals.
It opens with the sensuous Celtic-infused end of a relationship title track, The Art of Forgetting, a slow waltzing, fiddle-coloured number inspired by Sonnet XLIII and One Art from, respectively, Pulitzer Prize-winning American poets Edna St. Vincent Millay and Elizabeth Bishop. Things turn jazzier on her reading of the Irish ballad Siubhail a Rùin, the refrain translated in Scottish Gaelic with Welch and Scalf on trumpet and sax and Powell behind the piano.
Inspired by both the preceding track and Farewell to Tarwathie, it’s a return to fiddle-led Celtic waltz territory for Come Back To Me, Powell here providing accordion on a plaintive song of longing for a lover’s return from the sea, conscious that the longer he’s away, the more likely he’s d.
The English folk tradition informs Opal Grey, an emotionally turbulent song of post-love grief washed with percussive waves, its extended pathetic fallacy allegory inspired by both Sir Patrick Spens and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Indeed, the influence of poets looms large, both W.B.Yeats, Robert Frost and Virginian Louis McNeill casting their spells over the banjo-founded Tell Me Love, Carey’s pure vocal taking on country hints on a love song dedicated to her Italian philosopher partner, Carmine Colajezzi. He’s the inspiration too for Sweet Damnation, another number with prominent banjo accompaniment alongside fiddle that harks to memories of their first date.
McNeill’s influence resurfaces on the jaunty lope of Tillie Sage, named for the poem of the same title, a brass-burnished song of love gone sour that draws on Miss Havisham from Great Expectations for its portrait of a woman fallen from “heaven’s gates, to fiery hell” after love’s betrayal.
Sung in Gaelic, if Sios Dhan an Abhainn sounds melodically familiar, that’s because it is a translated rework of the American gospel Down To The River To Pray, Welch providing soulful New Orleans flavoured trumpet. Maintaining the gospel feel, Rhiannon Giddens joins Carey to add harmonies on the haunting For Your Journey. At two minutes it is the album’s shortest number, their voices backed by just a muted drone. It’s an ambiguous song of a journey or escape variously inspired by St. Matthew’s Gospel, the River Styx and the Underground Railroad, the network of secret routes and safe houses used by African-Americans to escape from slavery in the 19th century. It also refers to the North Star, the title of her previous release.
Piano and fiddle again underpinning the fingerpicked acoustic guitar, the album’s final stretch begins with Evelyna, another absent lover number, this one inspired by John Hiatt’s Crossing Muddy Waters. The last of the Gaelic tracks comes with Puirt à Beul, a mouth music song learned from Hebridean singers Christine Primrose and Mairi McInnes, Carey duetting with South Uist Gaelic singer Mac’IlleMhaoil (MacMillan) with Powell accompanying on piano.
It closes with the sole cover, Powell providing backing vocals and McGoldrick on flute on a lovely, wistful version of Trouble in the Fields, Nanci Griffith and Rick West’s poignant account of a farming couple resolving to pull together in the face of hard times, a muted, distant fiddle coda bringing it all to a close.
Underscoring both her skill as a storyteller and her background as a musical ethnologist alongside her songwriting craft and understated, intimate and engaging vocals, if North Star was a coming of age, Carey’s third album marks her blossoming into a rich maturity.
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region in the northeastern United States. It is the birthplace of the 29-year-old singer and songwriter Kyle Carey, who now lives in Brooklyn, New York, who has focused on bringing Celtic and Appalachian folk songs for her musical career. She debuted on record in 2011 with the album “Monongah”, which in 2013 got a sequel with the EP “One Morning In May” and in 2014 with a second studio album “North Star”.
With “The Art Of Forgetting” Kyle Carey now comes up with a brand new third studio album. Twelve songs in the style named “Gaelic Americana” were given a place on this disc. She herself also learned the Scottish-Gaelic language she knows to speak flawlessly and she sings songs on this album in this totally incomprehensible language.
On this new album are songs like the Irish traditional “Suibhail A Rùin”, the Scottish traditional “Puirt À Beul” and the “Sios Dhan An Abhainn” (see video) brought together with Gillebride MacMillan that proves to be a Scottish-Gallic translation are from an American psalm “Down To The River To Pray”. This traditional was also in a slightly different version on her previous album “North Star”.
Luckily but for us non-native speakers, Kyle Carey also releases nine songs in the English language, which enables us to understand what her songs are about. For example, the album title track “The Art Of Forgetting” deals with the processing of a lost love and “Come Back To Me” is a cry from the narrator of the song about the impossible return of a deceased partner. “Tell Me Love” is again a very ordinary, but sweet love song and “Sweet Damnation” tells about the passionate warmth between two brand new lovers.
Together with ‘Carolina Chocolate Drops’ lead singer Rhiannon Giddens Kyle Carey brings a gople-inspired a capella duet in the song “For Your Journey”. In closing we get a beautiful orchestra with “Celtic and Cajun influences”, a song that is described as a tribute to singer and composer of this song Nanci Griffith.
“The Art Of Forgetting” by Kyle Carey has already become an excellent folk record that will certainly appeal to fans of this musical genre. Finally, we would like to congratulate fiddler John McCusker for his beautiful contribution to just about all songs on this album.
- Valsam, Rootstime
DJ Praise
‘A treat – she has the most fantastic voice.’
– Frank Hennessy, BBC Radio Wales
‘A wonderful album from Gaelic-Americana singer-songwriter Kyle Carey – already a contender for album of the year.’
– Desi Fisher, Radio Northern Ireland
‘Some very beautiful songs on this album’
– Jim Canales, Acoustic Revival
‘Amazing new disc!’
– Ed Malachowski, WXOJ
‘Kyle Carey and company at their best.’
– Campbell Cameron, Oban FM
‘A fantastic new album from Kyle Carey.’
– John O’ Regan, Eclectic Celt, Limerick City Radio
‘Tastefully mixes sounds from different influences, a clear and beautiful voice, full of delicacy, sensibility and good taste
…and really superb arrangements.’
-Mike Penard, Radio I.S.A.
Album of the Week Selections
BBC Radio nan Gàidheal
BBC Scotland Iain Anderson Show
Song Premiere
Artist: Kyle Carey
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Song: “The Art of Forgetting”
Album: The Art of Forgetting
Release Date: January 26, 2018
Label: World Music Network’s Riverboat Records
In Their Words: “The Art of Forgetting’ is a seasonal love song I wrote with influences of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s ‘Sonnet XLII’ and Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘One Art.’ My producer, Dirk Powell, and I began the track with an LP-style introduction — to highlight the sensuality of the influences in the song. We also wanted this to allude to a sense of time travel, which is encapsulated in the different eras and influences touched upon throughout the album.”
Song Premiere
‘For Your Journey’
Celebrated singer-songwriter Kyle Carey is set to release her fourth studio effort, The Art of Forgetting, on 26 January. The album will release through Riverboat and is currently up for both physical and digital pre-order. Predating the LP’s release is the serene “For Your Journey”, a gospel-inspired track that defines the term “short but sweet”.
Additionally, joining Carey on this tune is none other than fellow Americana artist Rhiannon Giddens. She offers another layer of evocative, emotional depth through her gorgeous harmonic performance. As always, Carey’s music is in part about acknowledging our historical roots. Her nearly spiritual collaboration with Giddens on “For Your Journey” only furthers accentuating the song’s inspired origins as an ambiguous nod to the Bible, Greek mythology, and the Underground Railroad.
“I wrote ‘For Your Journey’ with a gospel theme in mind, but wanted the song to remain ambiguous enough to be read on a few different levels,” says Carey. “For that reason I wove in Biblical imagery, references to Greek mythology and allusions to the Underground Railroad.”
“Looking at the song from these angles the ‘North Star’ could be the Star of Bethlehem, Jordan the river Styx (or the Mississippi), and the ‘hound a baying’ tracker hounds or Cerberus. The inspiration hearkens back to a time when a simple gospel psalm could have been used as a code for an escape route. It was a great honor to have the talented Rhiannon Giddens join me on this track.”
Song Premiere
‘Siubhail a Rùin’
Kyle Carey’s forthcoming album The Art of Forgetting (World Music Network’s Riverboat Records) was produced by 4-time Grammy winner Dirk Powell, and features a track with Rhiannon Giddens on vocal harmonies. An English-speaking American, Kyle Carey spent her early childhood in Alaska immersed in the Eskimo language of Yup’ik. Later, in Nova Scotia, she learned Gaelic, the traditional Irish language that fewer than 75,000 native speakers in Ireland are natively fluent in today. Carey differentiates her musical style from typical Celtic Americana as being a more unique Gaelic Americana because of her immersion in the traditions of the language. On this project, she emulates her mimetic ability to dwell in Gaelic from the inside.
Carey told Americana Express: “’Siubhail a Rùin’ is a traditional Irish ballad that I’ve always loved. Considering this song has been recorded by so many other artists, my producer Dirk Powell and I decided to give it our own spin by adding a bit of New Orleans-inspired trumpet and a jazz swing. I also translated the verses that are originally in Irish to Scottish Gaelic to give it a ‘Gaelic Americana’ feel. It was an honor to have North Carolina’s Rhiannon Giddens join me on harmony vocals.”
For an exclusive sneak preview of her duet with Rhiannon Giddens, listen
The project is comprised of contributions from international musicians also adept in the Celtic/Gaelic folk style: John McCusker from Scotland with Mike McGoldrik, from Ireland, on flute and Ron Janssen of the Netherlands. Then there’s Louisiana’s Sam Broussard on guitar and Nashville’s Kai Welch on trumpet, along with North Carolinian Giddens on vocals. The album celebrates Americana musically with Powell and McKusker on fiddle and Janssen on mandolin.
Lyrically, Carey’s voice is chilling, and the partly native Gaelic lines are a pure auditory treat. As she sings: “I wish I was on Buttermilk Hill, it’s there I’d sit and cry my fill, and every tear would turn the mill, ’S gun tèid thu m’ eudail slàn,” the Gaelic phrases in her multi-tonal voice will send shudders of delight down your spine. Giddens’ accompaniment is the icing on the treat.
-Melissa Clarke, Americana Express
Produced by Dirk Powell (key member in Joan Baez and Rhiannon Giddens’ band) in his Breaux Bridge, Louisiana recording studio Kyle Carey’s latest album (her third) has, as expected some fine players and vocalists aid the travelled performer. Once a full-time waitress, the New Hampshire-born Scottish Gaelic inspired performer also has a wonderful understanding of traditional Irish music. Carey actually made her professional debut playing in 2011 in Dingle, Co Kerry. Earlier still after college, she travelled to Cape Breton on a Fulbright Fellowship to study Celtic music.
Next step taken was for her to spend a year on the Isle of Skye as she studied Scottish Gaelic, intensively with Christine Primrose, and with her now about to turn thirty Carey is still studying. Only now it is how best to use the tones of the former with folk music of America, primarily. The kind influenced by the criss-crossing of the Atlantic from the British Isles up into the Appalachian hills and beyond. Producer Powell’s influence and understanding of the latter is an area she will no doubt have tapped into, and with him playing extensively on the record (bass, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, backing vocals, accordion, banjo and piano) aided by John McCusker (fiddle), Mike McGoldrick (flute), Sam Broussard (guitar), James Mackintosh (percussion), Ron Janssen (Octave mandolin), Kai Welch (trumpet), Josh Scalf (trombone) plus backing vocals from Rhiannon Giddens, Liz Simmons and Gillebride Mac IlleMhaoil Carey’s eclectic combination of work is beautifully presented.
Carey’s drawing on Gaelic music and Appalachia The Art Of Forgetting is a big project in itself, but to also convert an old American gospel hymn “Down The River To Pray” to Scottish Gaelic, and be inspired by a Child Ballad, Yeats, McNeil, Frost and poems by West Virginian Louise McNeill plus work of Charles Dickens the depth of the record is immense. That is not the end of it, because for one song she checked-out John Hiatt’s Crossing Muddy Water, and she includes a cover of a Scottish mouth music song. Last but not least, she also tenders a version of the Nanci Griffith – Rick West’s composition “Trouble In The Fields”. Phew! At last you can draw breath! Now that is what you call a sizeable undertaking, her producer Dirk and friends from his TransAtlantic Sessions days have together (plus his continued thirst to learn more about traditional music) ensured her work is seen in the best light possible. Powell’s work on banjo, piano and fiddle (alongside that of McCusker and McGoldrick) is masterful!
Among the highlights, and there’s more emerging everyday as the music of this stylish performer melts into my subconscious. Her handling of opening cut “The Art Of Forgetting” reminded me of Natalie Merchant’s artistic style. While Carey’s version of “Siubhail a Ruin” is a sheer delight, and on showing much grace, the gentle fiddle, guitar and flute warmed “Come Back To Me” takes the listener to a heavenly place; and in the moving “Sios Dhan An Abhainn” (“Down To The River To Pray”) she genuinely reaches a great height. Although I would have liked to had more emphasis on the vocals, and more space allowed but my preference isn’t for every one.
“For Your Journey” is as stripped down tender as they come piece. Performed a cappella style, Carey with support from either or both Mac IlleMhaoil and Simmons produces something most special. You can feel and measure the stillness and beauty. On displaying more freedom, and yet more grace a song written whilst in Louisiana “Evelyna” powers forth as much imagery is released. Her grasp of Gaelic is outstanding and demonstrated in wonderful fashion by piano warmed ‘mouth song’ “Puirt A Beul”; learnt from the singing of Christine Primrose and Mari MacInnes her performance is mesmerising. As already noted, Carey does a version of “Trouble In The Fields”, and with fiddle, flute and piano, plus harmony vocals accompaniment she does full justice to the iconic composition.
Having previously recorded in Ireland and Scotland respectively, Kyle decided to resort to the studio of Dirk Powell, located in the deep south of the United States, for her third work The Art of Forgetting. The same studio where Rhiannon Giddens recently recorded her beautiful album Freedom Highway. This class box can be heard on For Your Journey. But she is certainly not the only great musician Kyle has this time at her disposal.
For example, John McCusker (violin) and Mike McGoldrick (flute) are featured on the poster. Moreover, the record of producer Dirk Powell is very big. He is not only one of the best banjo players in the world, he has worked with many great musicians such as Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, Jack White, Joan Baez, Steve Earle, Kris Kristofferson, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. With such skilled counselors, success was assured in advance.
The repertoire consists of own songs and traditionals. Particularly beautiful is the rendition of the famous Irish ballad Siubhail à Rùin. You have to come from a good house to be able to add something substantial to the large number of already existing interpretations. Special ingredients here are trumpet, piano and standing bass. Also the self-written opener The Art of Forgetting is imbued with Irish melancholy thanks to the fiddle and flute.
Sometimes the existing repertoire is the inspiration for new songs. The aforementioned Siubhail à Rùin led to Come Back to Me. She wrote a song during her stay in Louisiana, Evelyna. Listening to John Hiatt’s Crossing Muddy Waters led to that song. The flute in Opal Gray is wonderfully melancholic. There are mainly Irish influences in the songs, so on the first hearing more than on the predecessor.
Kyle has also recorded a new version of the traditional Sios Dhan An Abhainn, which is based on the famous gospel hymn Down to the River to Pray. The album also has a Dutch touch by the collaboration of Ron Janssen on mandolin. It is always a pleasure to hear the beautiful, heart-warming voice of Kyle. Fortunately, that is also possible in April, see here for the dates.
Celtic folk, Americana and Appalachian sounds are combined in the music of American-born Kyle Carey, born in 1988. Her music is often referred to as ‘Gaelic Americana’. Her musical career started in 2011 in Dingle, Ireland, where she recorded her debut album “Monongah”.
She has just released her third full-length album, “The Art Of Forgetting”, via Riverboat Records / World Music Network. Again, she offers her soft Celtic Americana mix. With a beautiful voice and the participation of guests such as Rhiannon Giddens, John McCusker and Mike McGoldrick, she puts her pleasing, mostly restrained and contemplative compositions tastefully into the spotlight. The announced Southern influence, after all, the album was recorded in Louisiana, can be described as rather subtle. Nice and relaxed music for quiet hours, but do not worry, “The Art Of Forgetting” is not Celtic kitsch as it is so often served.
Kyle Carey is from New Hampshire and she plays music that has not been misnamed with “Gaelic Americana”. Their synthesis of Celtic influences and traditions of the Appalachians, thus a sum of the music of the Old and the New World, is also completely successful on this, their third LP, The Art Of Forgetting.
Also this record was created as part of a Kickstarter project, such as the last record from 2015, “North Star”. On The Art Of Forgetting there are some great musicians who have helped shape the project professionally, including the one in Louisiana, where the music was recorded, based Sam Broussard, then Ron Janssen from the Netherlands, from Ireland Mike McGoldrick, from Nashville Kai Welch, and from North Carolina Rhiannon Giddens, as well as a man I once enjoyed as a bandmember of the Battlefield band in his young years, playing his very virtuoso Fiddle game – John McCusker.
All together have created a beautiful product that once again sparkles with melody and harmony.
In addition to the obviously strong Celtic impact, there are also some nuances that put some ‘a good song still the icing on the cake, with “Sios Dhan an Abhainn” is, for example, the use of the trumpet. Another Gaelic song, “Siubhail à Rùin”, performed light and discreetly swinging, has also been decorated with trumpet. Well done is the short Cajun influence at the end of the last song. Very beautiful and tender-melancholic is “Opal Gray” succeeded, gorgeous, as the drummer soulfully plays with the cymbals, and – sure – the Fiddle and Mike McGoldrick on the flute gently lead us into an Irish atmosphere with their empathetic game, that is one of my favorites among the songs. “Tell Me Love”, stylistically rather settled in the Appalachians, is also one of the very soulful titles, but ultimately you can not deny any of the pieces, not to be full of passionate emotion, because the whole record is consistently well done.
Celtic crossroads artist Kyle Carey‘s brand new recording is no debut – the honor belongs to 2011 release Monongah, recorded in western Ireland and produced by Donogh Hennesy of the acoustic super-group Lùnasa. But The Art of Forgetting, her third outing and her first recorded on American soil, nonetheless represents something new: a fully realized work that combines her deep reclamation of her Gaelic roots with the rich panoply of sound that typifies the contemporary integration of pan-regional folkways, supported by Dirk Powell’s stunning production and cajun-flavored studio work, Louisiana’s Sam Broussard on guitar, Scotland’s John McCusker on fiddle, Nashville’s Kai Welch on trumpet, and the warm harmonies of crossover superstar Rhiannon Giddens on a reinvented Irish tradtune. Heavenly, and highly recommended.
The Art of Forgetting is Kyle Carey’s delightful third album, another beautiful collection of Gaelic Americana that takes you away to another place, the album was released on January 26th on Riverboat Records – at the time of posting is available to stream in full at fruk.
I do not know how much a person’s life is affecting when spending a part of his childhood among Eskimos, thanks to the school teacher’s parents. But I’m sure that few people are so serious about playing music so that they spend years learning a language and studying the music they belong to. American Kyle Carey did exactly that, first in Scotland and then in Ireland, learning the Gaelic language, while trying to establish a relationship between Celtic / Gaelic and American folk music.
Many believe that this has succeeded in creating the “Gaelic Americana” music from both cultures. This is already the third record of the singer, and there is a chance to hear the first song in the category where the songs are being collected that have to be born British, Scottish or Irish for the unforgettable enjoyment. There is no song here, no jig, no dudes, so you can hear anyone listening to this music for the first blink of an afternoon. What you do is wrong, because it’s a lot more diverse, more variegated, more adventurous – although I admit that this puck will not be tricky at the dance houses.
Nevertheless, The Art of Forgetting album is indeed full of surprises, and it also has a chance to discover it after several plays. There is, for example, the Irish ballad “Siubhail a Rùin”, played jazzically in the studio. English folk music is quoted by “Opal Gray”, which is not only interesting because it was inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, but by the appearance of the bandage and the cloak-waves. Specials include “For Your Journey”, in this short song, Rhiannon Giddens is welcomed and his presence is even more appreciated thanks to the more discreet arrangements. When it comes to mixing, and usually the instrumentation is fantastic, Carey and Dirk Powell have done a great job, as well as language selection (both English and Gaelic texts are all occurring) just as much and exactly as they are used in a particular song than the dreamer necessary for perfection. The crown is made up of Carey’s voice, which is both charming and feminine – in some ways it seems to be coming from a fairy tales, say Pán Peter, so it is so magical. I am not arguing with this statement because it really is in truth.
To whom I recommend: music with good sense and taste mixed with celtic and american (appalachian mountain ballads, bluegrass, etc.).
As a student of tradition and music, Kyle Carey weaves the threads of her studies into a rich tapestry of song on her recent release, The Art of Forgetting. Her understanding of the Gaelic language of her ancestors has long been a part of Kyle Carey’s life, and she blends her knowledge with words and music in two tracks on The Art of Forgetting, infusing “Siubhail a Ruin” with an English translation on a Folk Rock rhythm, and “Sios Dhan an Abhainn” with a Bourbon Street funereal cadence guided by a lonely trumpet cry. Kyle Carey is an audio alchemist, telling the ghostly story of “Tillie Sage” on haunting backing of old time Folk, giving a Celtic flavor to “Sweet Damnation””, and coloring “Opel Grey” with a touch of Irish Folk as The Art of Forgetting remembers the work of Nanci Griffith to close out the album with “Trouble in the Fields”.
- The Alternate Root
Despite being a relatively young contributor to the folk world, American songwriter Kyle Carey has already taken a prominent role among the representatives of American Celtic music, which is that special style of folk that mixes together western European sounds with American (in this case Appalachian) elements. On early 2018 she released the third full-length album of her discography, The Art of Forgetting, and all the good things that have been said and written of her so far are absolutely confirmed by this new record.
One of the most interesting aspects of Carey’s music is the absolute ability that she manifests in exploring different musical influences without ever altering and distorting the essential element of his style. And whatever is the inspiration of her songs, it may be an Irish ballad or an American poem, everything is shaped and incorporated into the music in an extremely natural way, creating a collection of songs that show an absolute stylistic coherence but at the same time are gifted by a variety of nuances that make the listening experience an extremely pleasant one.
The beauty of this album derives also from the quality of the musicians who have been called to contribute to the recording of the songs. The release notes of the LP show that Carey has called together a super team of artists. Just to mention a few ones, we have singer, violinist and banjo player Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), American guitarist Sam Broussard (from the Cajun band Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys), and Scottish folk musician and composer John McCusker. Each of these musicians has contributed to the definition of the songs with their special style and background, but always in a controlled manner, without ever demanding the listener’s attention, as a precious spice that enriches a dish without covering the taste of the main ingredients, or as a secondary hint of a good aged wine, which gives richness, depth, but which only expert palates can distinguish and identify with clarity and precision.
The Kyle Carey, which was partly raised in Alaska, returned to New Hampshire before her teens, after studying in Plymouth she studied English literature on the Canadian island of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia and she added the Scottish Gaelic. That traditional Celtic style mixes with folk from the Appalachians and literature colors her debut recorded Monongah in Ireland. On the stronger personalized successor we find that unique ‘American Gaelic’ style, North Star is created in Scotland.
Just as on those earlier works, the Art Of Forgetting can hardly find electrically-controlled instruments. The flute game Mike McGoldrick and the fiddle of John McCusker together with the octave mandolin of Ron Janssen authentic accents. In addition, some tracks are performed in the Scottish Gaelish such as Puirt a Beul, in a jazzy version of the Irish traditional Subhail a Ruin that is only the chorus.
Sios Dhan an Abhainn is the gospel hymn transformed to the Gaelic Down To The River To Pray. “Take the North Star for your youth” sings Carey together with Rhiannon Giddens in a beautiful acapella. Tillie Sage is another fine example of the mixing of Celtic influences with the Appalachian legacy.
There are unmistakable influences from the recording location, in the Cypress Studio in Louisiana producer and multi-string man Dick Powell provides accompanists like Sam Broussard and a fine horn section for that typical Acadian and Louisiana feel. “Evelyna”, the gentle expressive voice of Carey whispers in the tender ballad inspired by Hiatts Crossing Muddy Waters. To complete Deep Carey Trouble In The Fields by Nancy Griffith.
The seamless combination of the exploration of Trans Atlantic folkroots with personal stories remains unique and sounds stronger than ever on The Art Of Forgetting.
Born in ‘New Hampshire’, Kyle Carey lived up to her seventh in the outback of Alaska. After her studies she started to travel around herself and ended up in Novia Scotia to study the music with Scottish and Celtic backgrounds. By studying this music and language she herself became an excellent speaker of this Scottish-Gaelic language, which you can also create by listening to her intimate folk music. Today, Kyle Carey lives in Brooklyn NY.
With her music, Kyle Carey tries to bring the Celtic folk and Americana closer together, resulting in 12 beautiful songs, creating her own ‘Gaelic Americana’ music. This ‘The Art of Forgetting’ was remarkably recorded in Louisiana under the watchful eye of producer Dirk Powell. Gastmuzikanten worked on the album as Rhiannon Giddens, John McCusker and Mike McGoldrick. It is her third album for Kyle Carey.
A collection of Scottish-inspired folk music with the title track ‘The Art of Forgetting’ but also with jazzy influences on ‘Siubhail a Rùin’, sung in English. Also the music from the Appalachians does not escape this album, partly due to the release of songs like ‘Tell Me Love’. An album that is brought to the extreme intimacy but is never worth a moment of boredom. Fresh all-embracing folk is the final result of this ‘The Art Of Forgetting’ and we are certain that we will not forget the name of Kyle Carey.
The Art Of Forgetting is Kyle Carey’s third album. Carey describes her style as ‘Gaelic Americana’. ‘Gaelic Americana’ is a fusion of Celtic and Appalachian musical traditions – and if that sounds odd, it’s worth understanding the depth of Carey’s musical knowledge: a Fulbright Fellowship to begin her study of Gaelic language and its music; a two-year stay on Skye and tutoring from one of Scotland’s most revered traditional singers; a knowledge of bluegrass, gospel, jazz and Appalachian ballads and fiddle tunes. It works. It more than works, the result is a luxurious sound, luxurious in the sense that you put the CD on, sit back and luxuriate in the music washing over you.
The video below is the title track of the album. Musically you can hear the distinctive mix of influences that have led to the name Gaelic Americana – a swirling fiddle, a gentle acoustic guitar, and a voice with phrasing as delicate as traditional Gaelic singers. Lyrically it’s a song of love lost – the autumn imagery contrasting with memory of summer “Summer sang in me once/it’s quiet this fall”. It moves from colour to black and white both metaphorically and descriptively “Colours all round me these days/Maples painting the ground/I stopped seeing the reds and the golds/When you stopped coming around” – the imagery of Romantic Poetry turned into lyrics.
The album glides on, through a jazzy take on the traditional ‘Siubhail A Ruin’ and a Cajun waltz, ‘Come Back To Me’. The fourth track, ‘Opal Grey’, is just delightful – the most luxurious track on the album, so much so that I’ve had to force myself to listen to the lyrics rather than just be absorbed in the feel of the song. It’s another tale of love lost, but it’s also a tale of how the whole person has become lost “Every time I think the rain has stopped/the skies return to Opal Grey/And I am lost again in my own storm/without a star to guide the way”. We’ve probably all known those times.
‘Tell Me Love’ is a positive tale of love, with banjo and mandolin driving a gentle song full of nature imagery. In the middle of the album are a couple of songs of passion – ‘Sweet Damnation’, a cheery tune for a tale of passion “that would make a rosebud blush” and ‘Tillie Sage’ a re-telling of the Miss Havisham story of passion thwarted but not decayed. This is probably my favourite song on the album with old-style American finger picking, a fiddle haunting the vocals, and a gentle (really) banjo. A beautiful song.
I couldn’t place the tune I recognised behind ‘Sios Dahn An Abhainn’ until the sleeve notes pointed out that it’s “a Louisiana flavoured, soulful interpretation of the classic American psalm ‘Down to the River’ translated into Scottish Gaelic and flavoured with the Bayou” – another gently lovely song, and those notes reinforce how this album combines the American and Gaelic traditions into something distinctive. It then moves seamlessly to the gospel-inspired ‘For Your Journey’, duetting with Rhiannon Giddens. By now you have a sense of ‘Gaelic Americana’ and the album finishes with three more songs that unite the two traditions, including a fine version of Nancy Griffiths’ ‘Trouble In The Fields’ slightly held back and decorated with fiddle, percussion, piano and backing vocals of the full band.
As a whole, the album is gem of luxurious sounds, songs of love in many of its forms, natural imagery (reflected in the greenness of the cover above) and it stands on a highly trained knowledge of both Celtic and American traditions that allows Carey to create something unforced (The Art Of Forgetting is for listening to, not an academic exercise) and rather lovely.
Kyle Carey is on tour in the UK in late May/early June, predominantly in Scotland, with one gig in Wales and one in England.
This widely travelled artist grew up in Alaska and New Hampshire, before her move to Nova Scotia to study the language and music of the Gaelic tradition. She then moved to Scotland to continue her studies before releasing two recordings that established her credentials as a real talent in blending the best of Celtic and American roots music.
This third release is a confident and fully realised project and highlights the growing development of a mature talent. There are three songs included that see her sing in the Scottish Gaelic language and the gentle arrangements, melody and expert playing make all twelve songs a very pleasant listen with a sweetly restrained balance throughout.
Produced & engineered by Dirk Powell (Joan Baez, The BBC Transatlantic Sessions), the experience is peppered with real quality and highlighted by the excellent musicianship. Powell contributes bass, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, accordion, banjo, piano and vocals while John McCusker (Eddi Reader, Kate Rusby) also appears on fiddle.
Sam Broussard on guitar and Mike McGoldrick on flute also make telling contributions while Rhiannon Giddens appears on backing vocals. There are also the talents of Ron Janssen (octave mandolin) and Kai Welch (trumpet) and Josh Scalf (trombone) to enjoy.
Songs like the title track, Sweet Damnation, Tell Me Love, Evelyna and For Your Journey are very appealing and the easy interplay between fiddle, flute, mandolin, guitars and banjo invite repeated listens.
The fine art of forgetting … We ourselves are getting better at the end of the years. But that is reportedly not really abnormal. Fortunately! And fortunately, but also that we are not so far away, that we systematically forget everything. In that case we would not remember “Monongah” and “North Star” either, the two previous records, with which the sweet-voiced Kyle Carey caught our attention.
Carey then fascinated us immensely with a rare beautiful symbiosis of Celtic folk and Americana. And both poles remain the main components of Carey’s third, given the mostly favorable reactions to these two albums. Again twelve samples of truly stunning beauty of what Carey himself now likes to label as Gaelic Americana. Own songs, whether or not inspired by material from others, but also some covers.
For the immortalization of the material of “The Art Of Forgetting”, Carey let himself be accompanied by Dirk Powell. He watched how clean people like Sam Broussard (guitar), John McCusker (fiddle), Mike McGoldrick (flute), Ron Janssen (mandolin), Rhiannon Giddens (backing vocals) and others did their tricks completely for Carey and her material came. He also did a nice job in the musical bag with contributions on bass, fiddle, mandolin, accordion, banjo and piano respectively. As good as a guarantee for high quality material. And thus “The Art Of Forgetting” is filled from start to finish.
From the pure poetry of opening and title track “The Art Of Forgetting” about the jazzy, partly in Scottish Gaelic brought “Siubhail À Rùin” to the subdued “Come Back To Me”, inspired by an Irish traditional, of the really stunning ballad “Tell Me Love” about a Gaelic version of the American gospel hymn “Down To The River I Pray” to the closing cover of Nanci Griffiths “Trouble In The Fields” and really everything inbetween, this is enjoyment from a to z.
With her little velvet voice reminding us of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Carey once again enchants this time. Really highly recommended, this third of her, we dare to put this unabashed by way of conclusion.
‘A voice so pure and wholesome’
- Tony Hillier, The Australian
The Art of Forgetting is a fine showcase for Kyle Carey’s specialty—‘Gaelic Americana’—which sounds as you would expect of a sweet-voiced folk singer from New Hampshire, performing under the influence of Scots-Gaelic and Irish culture. Carey studied Celtic music in Nova Scotia on a Fulbright Fellowship and the Gaelic language in Scotland with Christine Primrose. Her command of the language is fluent and her nuanced delivery is imbued with a deep affinity for the singing tradition of the culture.
Carey’s carefully balanced strategy is most successful when it more closely follows a traditional model, as it does on ‘Opal Grey’ and ‘Tillie Sage’, which smoothly blend the elements to produce a satisfying hybrid result. When she veers off into coffee-house jazz, on ‘Siubhail a Rùin,’ a classic ballad with Irish lyrics translated by Carey, the result is not exactly a bad thing, just different.
The Art of Forgetting features an all-star supporting cast including Rhiannon Giddens and Liz Simmons (vocals), Sam Broussard (guitar), John McCusker (fiddle), Mike McGoldrick (flute), Kai Welch (trumpet), James MacKintosh (percussion), Ron Janssen (octave mandolin) and Gillebrìde MacMillan (backing vocals). The music is richly textured, but never loses a sense of delicacy and poetic refinement.
- Doug Deloach, Songlines Magazine
Kyle Carey is from New Hampshire and she plays music that has not been misnamed with “Gaelic Americana”. Their synthesis of Celtic influences and traditions of the Appalachians, thus a sum of the music of the Old and the New World, is also completely successful on this, their third LP, “The Art Of Forgetting”.
Also this record was created as part of a Kickstarter project, such as the last record from 2015, “North Star”. On The Art Of Forgetting there are some great musicians who have helped shape the project professionally, including the one in Louisiana, where the music was recorded, based Sam Broussard, then Ron Janssen from the Netherlands, from Ireland Mike McGoldrick, from Nashville Kai Welch, and from North Carolina Rhiannon Giddens, as well as a man I once enjoyed as a bandmember of the Battlefield band in his young years, playing his very virtuoso Fiddle game – John McCusker. All together have created a beautiful product that once again sparkles with melody and harmony.
In addition to the obviously strong Celtic impact, there are also some nuances that put some ‘a good song still the icing on the cake, with “Sios Dhan an Abhainn”, it is for example the use of the trumpet. Another Gaelic song, “Siubhail à Rùin”, performed light and discreetly swinging, has also been decorated with trumpet. Well done is the short Cajun influence at the end of the last song. Very beautiful and tender-melancholic is “Opal Gray” succeeded, gorgeous, as the drummer soulfully plays with the cymbals, and – clearly – the Fiddle and Mike McGoldrick on the flute gently lead us into an Irish atmosphere with their empathetic game, that is one of my favorites among the songs. “Tell Me Love”, stylistically rather settled in the Appalachians, is also one of the very soulful titles, but ultimately you can not deny any of the pieces, not to be full of passionate emotion, because the whole record is consistently well done.
Kyle Carey has completed her third album, The Art of Forgetting, and it is one you might want to hear if you have an ear for Trad Folk. She headed south to record with Dirk Powell, who produced, and The Mamou Playboys and the result is a mixture of traditional music from a variety of places, all lending influences at different times, from the Trad Folk Gaelic-influenced title track to the jazzy and shuffling Siubhail a Ruin to a string of songs to grip your Americana-loving heart. Features Rhiannon Giddens on vocal harmonies and John McCusker on fiddle. If you don’t recognize the names, look them up. If you love music, you should know them. And Kyle, for that matter. Her best yet.
Kyle Carey has not made it easy for her third album: the combination of Appalachian folk and Celtic folk adds the musical tradition of the southern states of America: a touch of cajun, some New Orleans jazz. It takes some getting used to, but it works fine.
‘The Art of Forgetting’ was recorded in Louisiana with producer Dirk Powell, who previously worked with, among others, Linda Ronstadt and Steve Riley. On Kyle Carey’s second CD ‘North Star’ he played banjo, mandolin and piano. And now he also contributes quite a bit to a large number of instruments.
‘The Art of Forgetting’ contains twelve songs and most of them come from Carey’s pen, often being inspired by others. Thus Tillie Sage was based on a poem by Louise McNeill, in combination with Miss Havisham by Charles Dickens. Evelyna was inspired by Crossing muddy waters from John Hiatt.
The list of musical guests looks completely different than on ‘North Star’. Sam Broussard plays guitar, John McCusker violin, Mike McGoldrick flute, Kai Welch trumpet, Josh Scalf trombone. Ron Janssen, Kyle Carey’s regular companion for a number of years on her tours through the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, plays octave mandolin. All these musicians together make for a soft bed, which gently bears the sweet-voiced voice of Kyle Carey.
Songs in the Gaelic are not lacking. Of the three songs with a Celtic title, Siubhail is the most exciting, because of the unusual rhythmic pattern.
With ‘The Art of Forgetting’, Kyle Carey has put herself more firmly on the map.
People’s singer Kyle Carey is back with a new plate and she keeps the style. The Art of Forgetting is at least as good as the predecessors Monongah and North Star, so there is no reason to be disappointed. On the contrary: Carey has done it again!
The Art Of Forgetting starts celtically with the wildly titled track, gets a rocking, more jazzy atmosphere with “Siubhail à rùin”, which is second to the plate, and then another ten tracks emerge on this musical sandwich table of various folk music traditions. Kyle Carey finds inspiration in Irish and Gaelic music, in the styles played in the mountains of the Appalachians for many generations such as bluegrass, country and gospel.
She calls herself her native music mix for “Gaelic americana”. The Art Of Forgetting is recorded in Louisiana, produced by numerous Grammy winners Dirk Powell and guest performers include Rhiannon Giddens (background song), John McCusker (violin) and Mike McGoldrick (flute). The other and other musicians come from Louisiana, Scotland, The Netherlands, Nashville, Ireland and North Carolina.
This plate is Kyle Carey’s third and it’s high quality, both musically and song-like, and Kyle Carey’s song feels perfectly self-evident. She exaggerates nothing, does not show up her skills as an object of excitement. Instead, she adjusts her song after each song and makes it sound so obvious, so easy and smooth. The whole plate of spirit breathes and stylish elegance, a ground-level feeling that is easily taken care of. You who appreciated her previous album will fall again and you who have not heard her previous album now have three plates to look forward to and enjoy.
She conserves the Irish roots of the American Kyle Carey with care. She calls Gaelic Americana her music. The Art Of Forgetting (Riverboat Records / World Music Network) was recorded with an international set of musicians, with which she has plenty of escape possibilities from an already strict pattern. For example, a trombone on Siubhail à Rùin beckons to jazz, while that instrument along with trumpet Sweet Damnation gives a wonderfully relaxed groove. Multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell ensured unity between Sam Broussard (guitar) from Louisiana, John McCusker (fiddle) from Scotland, Ron Janssen (mandolin) from the Netherlands and Mike McGoldrick (flute) from Ireland. New star Rhiannon Giddens, who also made recordings under the direction of Powell, is one of the background singers.
New Hampshire-born Kyle Carey’s third album effortlessly combines the essence of Celtic and Appalachian folk to create a hybrid sound which has been dubbed Gaelic Americana.
The record contains songs ideally suited for rainy autumn days where references to weeping willows and grey skies symbolize the melancholy mood. Many of the selections are based on poetry or traditional ballads from Scotland and Ireland but there’s also room for a cover of Nanci Griffith’s Trouble In The Fields.
The album is produced by Dirk Powell who sings backing vocals on a couple of tracks and more than earns his fee by contributing bass, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, accordion, banjo and piano. The tracks also feature Rhiannon Giddens on backing vocals together with Mike McGoldrick on flute and John McCusker on fiddle.
The atmosphere is tranquil and subdued with the notable exception of Puirt à Beul, a lively Scottish mouth music song. Otherwise, the lilting melodies and words are full of wistfulness. In part, the soothing tone reminds me of the siren scene in The Coen Brothers’ ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’. This connection is directly prompted by Sios Dhan an Abhainn which is based on the gospel hymn ‘Down To The River To Pray’ sung by Alison Krauss in that movie. Her reading of Evelyna, inspired by John Hiatt’s ‘Crossing Muddy Waters’, is a beautiful controlled song of death and longing.
Moments like this contribute to a pleasant easy-listening album that charms.
On the third album Kyle Carey perfectly synthesizes her many musical influences, creating a bridge between American roots music and the Scottish-Irish tradition in a sensitive and fascinating album entitled The Art Of Forgetting, produced by the excellent Dirk Powell and recorded in Louisiana.
Raised between Alaska and New Hampshire, Kyle Carey has spent periods both in Canada and on the Isle of Skye in the Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, maturing a strongly poetic style from which they emerge remarkable gifts both from the vocal point of view and with a great acumen in choosing the material.
If the title-track gently introduces us into the Celtic world, the following rereading of the traditional Irish Siubhail à Ruin hits for the union of Celtic inflections and swing sounds, a decidedly intriguing mix. Opal Gray is instead inspired by a well-known Child Ballad as Sir Patrick Spens and once again confirms the goodness of the proposal, always poised between the two shores of the Atlantic, Tell Me Love is an original with Appalachian movements characterized by the banjo of Dirk Powell whose instrumental contribution is always precious and inspired.
One of the moments of greatest inspiration is a Sweet Damnation between country music and Irish sensibilities, the Gaelic reinterpretation of the note Down To The River To Pray proposed here with infinite grace, Evelyna composed by Carey with John’s Crossing Muddy Waters in mind Hiatt and the magnificent Trouble In The Fields by Nanci Griffith, a splendid example of emotional involvement and poignant participation. Supporting a record played with taste and pathos are the Louisiana guitarist Sam Broussard, the Scottish fiddler John McCusker, the flautist Mike McGoldrick from Ireland and the great Rhiannon Giddens who lends his voice in more than a moment of a job excellent for sagacity and poetic strength.
The third album is famously the difficult hurdle to jump, with many artists resorting to re-treads or losing their way. It is however a hurdle that Gaelic Americana purveyor Kyle Carey vaults with such ease she could easily knock off an entrechat as she crosses it.
Some things in her music remain the same. As previously the album closes with an excellent Americana cover: last time ‘Across the Great Divide’, this time ‘Trouble In The Fields’. There are of course songs in Gaelic and Carey’s voice, a thing of startling purity and delight is fore-grounded throughout. All of which are good things. Some things in her music are different. The instrumentation has been beefed up considerably and displays a wider range of influences – some New Orleans trumpet on ‘Siubhail a Rùin’ for example. There are also some serious guests including Rhiannon Giddens and John McCusker. These are good things too.
Carey’s songwriting continues to evolve and improve and producer Dirk Powell contributes the expected deft picking as well as fashioning a perfect setting for the music. Highlights include ‘Sios Dhan an Abhainn’, a startlingly effective Gaelic reinterpretation of ‘Down to The River To Pray’ and ‘Opal Grey’, which draws on traditional British folk to great effect.
Enough facts though, let’s cut to the chase. This is a beautiful album filled with beautiful music that tugs at the heartstrings. The Gaelic is at the centre of it, and you sense at the centre of Carey too. Long may it remain there.
‘Thanks to Carey’s warm timbre it is certainly no punishment to listen to what she has to say about the art of forgetting.’
Gaelic Americana with Appalachia and Louisiana Influences
Kyle Carey released her first album in 2011 and the Art of Forgetting is the much anticipated follow up to her sophomore and critically acclaimed release North Star. Recorded in Louisiana, the album is tinged with Cajun influences but as a student of Scottish Gaelic, she fuses Celtic with American roots into her compelling song writing. The result is quite a lovely piece of work; twelve tracks stretching over some 52 minutes.
The album opens with the title track, a sensual autumnal song relating to lost love and featuring gentle fiddle and guitar only. Highlights; ‘Come Back To Me’ is a Cajun inspired waltz while ‘Tell Me Love’ injects fiddle, banjo, and mandolin enhanced by some delightful harmony vocals.
‘Sweet Damnation’ has a country feel and the sensitive use of trumpet, trombone, and flute give the song a distinctive 70s feel, ‘Sios Dhan an Abhainn’ is a Louisiana flavored and soulful interpretation of the classic American psalm ‘Down to the River’ translated into Gaelic. The album closes with Kyle’s excellent interpretation of Nanci Griffith’s ‘Trouble in the Fields’. Produced by Dirk Powell and supported by the likes of roots luminaries John McCusker, Mike McGoldrick, and Rhiannon Giddens, The Art of Forgetting ought to zoom quickly into the folk charts. Look out for a UK tour in May and June 2018.
- John Roffey, Maverick Magazine
Whatever happened to the Transatlantic Sessions? The thought isn’t entirely unwarranted here, as this third album from Kyle Carey would slot right in there. Drawing equally from Appalachia and the Celtic traditions of Britain, the dozen songs here link these distant locations without compromising either.
Take the delicately uplifting ‘Tell Me Love’, for example. Its warmly delivered lyric is plumped with traditional nature imagery, as Dirk Powell’s banjo and John McCusker’s fiddle dance around each other, complimenting each melodic twist from Virginia to Skye and back. It’s a winning fusion that imbues Carey’s songs with breezy freshness, even when the subject takes a darker turn, as on the spooky tale of ‘Tillie Sage’.
I must admit, I’m still not entirely taken with the New Orleans approach to ‘Siubhail a Rùin’ – a song that seems to be going through a bit of a purple patch at present – but the other outré hybrid is remarkably effective. A Scottish Gaelic translation of ‘Down to the River’ may sound a bit gimmicky, but it makes for a fine wade in the Clyde Delta. The Remainder of the Art of Forgetting is more firmly in the folk tradition(s), and will delight anyone with a love of a fine song well sung – and that’s all of us, isn’t it?
- Oz Hardwick, R2 Magazine
A fine blend of Celtic Americana with Appalachian undertones, Kyle Carey delivers a dozen songs predominantly from her own pen but with a further nod to Nanci Griffith on Trouble in the Fields. Joined by a stella cast of supporters including Rhiannon Giddens, John McCusker and Mike McGoldrick.
‘It’s all very beautiful and Kyle has the voice of an angel.’
- Julian Piper, Acoustic Magazine
A good singer knows how to use the voice to achieve an effect. She knows when to use nuance and her phrasing is always on point. Apart from that, a good singer possesses a good timbre. Although we know that our concept of ‘beauty’ varies from culture to culture, we do know a remarkable voice when we hear one. Kyle Carey is one example that deserves a mention. When you hear the way she sings, you respond to it right away-the way you respond to singers like Sarah McLachlan, Connie Dover, Janis Ian or Moya Brennan. It is not the fireworks and volume that count. It’s the intelligence on how such instrument-the voice- is used to tell a story or to express a sentiment.
Now in her third full-length album, The Art of Forgetting, the singer-songwriter and amazing interpreter of Gaelic songs continues to touch listeners with her unique art. Carey continues to tackle the Celtic influence in American music. There are twelve songs in the album. My current favorite is the jazzy Suil A Ruin. It reflects the mood of the early 20th century that gave rise to the Jazz babies among Irish and Scottish immigrants. I think it is a perfect song to describe that era. Her playful voice carries us through a not so distant past, but still has a very strong anchor to the present.
The Art of Forgetting is also a testament to the evolution of her musical style. Yes it is still the Celtic Americana artist that we have grown to love, but she added a sense of playfulness to her latest effort. A sort of exuberance that could only come from an artist that has developed both personal and aesthetic wisdom. She can easily incorporate jigs and other traditional forms in her ballads seamlessly. Like in the case of the poignant Opal Grey.
Vocally, she is great shape. In Sios Dan An Abhainn, she incorporates breathy passages while still maintaining the strength of her voice, highlighting the consonants of each line. I admire the clever use of a saxophone in this track which further intensifies the mood. For Your Journey continues to showcase her vocal power. Yeah, two minutes if pure haunting bliss! She breathes a new life in the traditional Puirt a Beul, a track I first heard performed by Julie Fowlis. Her rendition stands on its own in b terms of beauty and gentleness. Trouble in the Fields closes the album. This is Carey going out of her comfort zone singing in a style that is upfront and fresh.
The Art of Forgetting is a joy to possess. There are many memorable moments here. This album makes us anticipate for more music to come from this lovely artist like no other.
One of this writer’s absolute favorite releases of 2018 so far has got to be Kyle Carey’s The Art of Forgetting. The revered singer-songwriter’s fourth album is chockful of serene folk songs pulling from both Celtic and Americana influences. It’s a deep breath of refreshing air in a musical landscape that seems to be growing more dependent on the anthemic by the moment, and a calming, humanistic reflection of our natural world.
For Folk’s Sake recently caught up with Carey to discuss The Art of Forgetting, her musical influences, how she defines success, and more.
Please tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how did you get started in music?
I think the best word I can use to describe where I’m from is that I’m a ‘Northerner’. My parents are both from New England but as soon as they graduated from college they got jobs teaching in Yupik villages in the Alaskan bush. I was born in New Hampshire and then taken as an infant to the bush. I spent the first seven years of my life in remote Yupik villages and according to my parents I started singing around the same time I started talking. Music was a big part of the Yupik culture, and for whatever reason – singing came as intuitively to me as regular verbal communication. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was about sixteen, and wrote my first song when I was eighteen. Aside from being highly adventurous – my parents were both lovers of folk music, and though I got away from it a bit in high school, I returned to folk music in college while volunteering at a place called Caffe Lena – which is the oldest continuously running folk venue in North America. I was deeply inspired by the musicians I saw perform there and decided to pursue a career in folk music myself.
Being an artist so intertwined with Celtic music and the Gaelic language, were these influences that came into your life around the same time as your appreciation for music?
I did start to develop an interest in Celtic music and Gaelic around the same time I fell back in love with folk music. To me, Celtic music just seemed like another lovely branch of the roots music I was developing a keen interest in, and Irish and Scottish Gaelic fascinated me with their inherent musicality and ancientness. I went to Skidmore College, and even though there wasn’t a Celtic studies or folk music degree – I educated myself as best I could by volunteering at Caffe Lena, and then studied abroad in Dingle Ireland for much of my junior year – which is an Irish speaking pocket. I wrapped it all up by writing my senior thesis on the memoir of Tomas O’ Crohan – who was one of the last people to live on the Great Blasket Island (a small Irish-speaking enclave) and then headed up to Cape Breton on a Fulbright to start learning Scottish Gaelic – before crossing over to Skye in Scotland to gain my fluency in the language.
What was the creation process like for The Art of Forgetting? Or, this is to say – what were you setting out to achieve when laying the groundwork out for The Art of Forgetting?
With the ‘Art of Forgetting’ I knew that I wanted to do something different, but still retain the cornerstones of my sound – Americana-seeped story-songs with a highlight and sprinkling of Scottish Gaelic, with instrumentation that reflects the deep connection between American roots/Appalachian music and the Celtic traditions – what I’ve come to call ‘Gaelic Americana’. My first album was recorded in Ireland, my second in Scotland, so with ‘The Art of Forgetting’ I wanted to add a new element, which came easily by enlisting my highly talented producer Dirk Powell. Bringing in another thread of Americana, a New Orleans influence and a Cajun element – gave my songs a fresh sound and also stretched me as an artist. I wanted the album to be another illustration of the inter-connectedness of these roots traditions.
On your new album, you work with other celebrated artists like Rhiannon Giddens, Dirk Powell, and Sam Broussard. Can you tell us a bit about how these collaborations came about?
My producer Dirk played on a few songs on my last album ‘North Star’ and after hearing how beautiful and creative his contributions were – I knew he’d be incredible to work with as a producer. I e-mailed Dirk out of the blue and he responded in a very friendly, open and enthusiastic way. From beginning to end he’s been a joy to work with and his level of investment in the project has been unprecedented. Rhiannon is a good friend of Dirk’s so her contribution came that way, and the same goes for Sam. While I didn’t work with Rhiannon one-on-one in the studio, Sam and I were together throughout the five-day period of the recording of the backbone of the project and got into a wonderful groove in the studio. Sam is one of the easiest guitarists to work with. No ego, big talent and a wonderful sense of humor and style.
As an artist, how do you define success?
Though its taken me a while to cop on to this, and though I’m certainly not perfect at following its truth each day, I’m starting to realize more and more that success can’t be defined by anything external to me. While by industry standards, something like winning a Grammy might define me as ‘successful’ I don’t think that’s the makings for deep and lasting contentment. The kind of success that breeds contentment (and what other kind could you want?) is I believe being a better version today of who I was yesterday. If today I’m kinder, more centered, more focused on my craft and coming up with better material than I was yesterday – that to me is success. If somehow I can serve the greater good through that process – than I might even be able to marry my success with joy.
What do you find to be your greatest struggle when it comes to the music business? Do you think that there are ups and downs that you have uniquely faced, being in the Celtic niche?
I think there are so many struggles in the music business it would be hard to choose the greatest. Financial insecurity, lack of structure, isolation coupled at times with a lack of privacy – these are all common struggles and ones I’m sure I share with many other artists. I think for me not being in any niche has actually been more problematic than advantageous. The Celtic world doesn’t know quite what to do with me as I’m not purely Celtic and the Americana world gets frightened by my Gaelic songs, so I sometimes find myself lost in a hinterland in-between. To me, what I’m doing is something quite innovative and refreshing, but I don’t think the industry always sees it that way. Luckily, I have a wonderful, supportive fan base who loves the uniqueness of what I do, and at the end of the day – they’re the ones I care about pleasing most.
What do you think is the most realistic goal you can achieve as an artist? What do you hope to achieve – or, would you say you’ve achieved it?
While I did at one point have dreams and goals about playing certain festivals, venues, and landing on certain lists – a lot of that stuff has started to fall away. I think the most realistic and if I might say ambitious gaol an artist can have is to keep producing music equal to or beyond the calibre they’ve set. I feel as though I’ve achieved that thus far, as each of my albums have been stronger than the last, but whether or not I’ll be able to maintain that I’m not sure. I certainly hope so and I will do my best!
Outside of music, what do you like to do that you feel contributes to the creativity that you tap into for your music?
I’ve found that an idea from a song can come from just about anywhere. I’ve gleaned song ideas from poems, novels, short stories, films, conversations and nature. I try to keep my eyes and ears open at all times, and try to keep my interests varied in hopes that they’ll add even more spice to my palette – whether that be Cajun or not. 😉
Celtic Americana, that’s how Kyle Carey describes her music herself, and there is something in it. You can clearly hear her Celtic roots in the arrangements, but she dares to choose from time to time, especially with Celtic traditionals such as Siubhail à Rùin, for arrangements that you would not expect, with piano, trumpet and double bass, and that is surprisingly good. from. This also applies to the jazzy and extraordinarily beautiful subdued arrangement of Sios Dhan an Abhainn, which you might know better as Down to the River to Pray.
You have to have the courage to record songs that have been sung and recorded by an endless row of predecessors, but Carey knows how to give each cover something new and unique, and with every song she knows how to make an impression, also with the beautiful Trouble in the Fields. But also her own compositions, as the title track of her third album The Art of Forgetting are gems.
This is partly because the songs are good, partly because of the vocals, but for a large part also because of the phenomenal arrangements and the superior band they perform here. Because Carey did not know the least – if fiddler John McCusker is on the list you already know in advance that it is more than just good, and if flutist Mike McGoldrick also adds, it can not be broken anymore. The American producer Dirk Powell also plays bass, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, accordion, banjo and piano, and then we almost have a transatlantic session in full glory. I’m not going to mention everyone here, but it’s nice to mention the Dutchman Ron Janssen, he plays on the Octave Mandolin.
This is the third full length album from Kyle. It was recorded and produced in Louisiana by multi instrumentalist Dirk Powell, and includes such stellar names as John McCusker and Mike McGoldrick as special guests. As befits an American who lived two years on Skye and studied at the feet of Christine Primrose, it includes two songs in Scottish Gaelic…and a third song with a chorus translated into this same charming language. And although one of the songs is a pure mystery to me, the other song is a translation of the well-known American gospel hymn Down By The River To Pray, a song I know quite well, so I was able to sing the English language original lyric sotto voce – along with Kyle as she sang with her pleasant light soprano – and with the volume on my CD player up high. And at the same time reading the Scots Gaelic lyric from the very well presented liner booklet: incidentally, how nice to see the words so readable (white on a dark green background).
One song from her own pen stands out: Track 6, Sweet Damnation. It is a long time since I heard a more sensual song: one could just imagine it being sung by the sultry Maria Muldaur. Oh and what gorgeous brass accompaniment from Kai Welch on trumpet and Josh Scalf on trombone.
The album seems to be a unique fusion of Gaelic Americana music: a synthesis of the Celtic, Americana and Appalachian traditions. It is not an album I hear every day.
- Dai Woosnam, The Living Tradition
On her latest solo album, the angel-voiced Kyle Carey continues to explore the intersections of Celtic folk and Americana, only now she’s doing so in a somewhat more jazzy and swinging style. This approach is most startling on her unique arrangement of the popular favorite “Siubhail a Rùin,” which is normally played as a slow lament but is taken here at a loping medium-swing tempo. “Sweet Damnation” is similarly jazzy, and features the lovely combination of a horn section and an Irish flute. Dirk Powell’s production is careful and brilliant–as is his clawhammer banjo playing on “Tillie Sage.” And of course, Carey’s singing is a wonder as it always is. Recommended to all folk collections.
- Rick Andersen, CD Hotlist
Her third album is for Kyle Carey another real transatlantic showcase. This is proven not least by the impressive line-up of guests joining this young American singer – including John McCusker and Mike McGoldrick from the UK and Rhiannon Giddens from the USA. Her material spans Americana, Appalachian and Gaelic music. Many of her songs are her own compositions, with many of them more on the romantic love song side, with the addition of two Gaelic songs – a lovely “Puirt a Beul” and a Scottish Gaelic version of the American gospel song “Down to the river to pray”. My personal highlight is a lively jazz version of the classic Irish ballad “Siubhail a Ruin” (with the refrain translated into Scottish Gaelic), which shows the innovative side of this singer.
Refreshing in its simplicity, straightforwardness and sense of unhurried calm, Kyle Carey’s The Art of Forgetting acts like a balm for our 24/7, shortened attention span times. Devoid of folktronica frills and 21st-century studio frippery, it’s like something from a bygone time, when singers could just sing and instruments could just be themselves and bands knew the difference between playing too much and just enough. Carey’s voice is front and centre throughout, a voice that is pure and clean, tremulous when it needs to be but never weak, strong and from the gut when called for, playful and plaintive, joyous and sorrowful, always emotional and a thing of beauty.
While nominally ‘folk’ music, Carey and her band keep complacency at bay throughout The Art of Forgetting by delivering a synthesis of Celtic, Americana and Appalachian musical forms, which makes for what she describes as unique ‘Gaelic Americana.’ And although this sometimes results in a bit of genre hopping – opening track ‘The Art or Forgetting’ conjures a sea-shanty vibe,‘Siubhail a Ruin’ has an almost-cabaret/jazz feel, ‘Tell Me Love’ is like a heartbreaking piece of mountain music, ‘Sios Dhan an Abhainn’ is a Gaelic-language cover of the Americana traditional ‘As I Went Down to the River to Pray’ that combines Americana and Celtic influences with the kind-of mournful horns befitting a New Orleans funeral procession – Carey’s dedication to acoustic instrumentation and the band’s relaxed, unhurried playing create a through-line and sense of wholeness that is truly mesmerising.
If you’re like me and your idea of folk music has been tainted by the monotonous mumblings of bearded and bespectacled folkies, or by the droning ramblings of earnest singer-songwriters, or the cry-into-your-beer despondency delivered by lovers of murder ballads and protest songs, then you need to open your heart and embrace Kyle Carey’s The Art of Forgetting. I did, and for that I’ll always be grateful.