LUCY KITT – MORNIN SUN EP REVIEW

Lucy Kitt - Photographer Unknown

Singer-songwriters are ten a penny these days. It’s reached the point where even the most unimaginative critic would hesitate in labelling someone who sang and played an acoustic guitar “the new Nick Drake”.

There should, by rights, be only a certain number of things you can do with a voice, an unamplified guitar and a selection of songs that err on the melancholic side of life.

And yet… and yet, somehow the magic is still there: themes, melodies and chords are re-invented on a regular basis into something new and rather special. It’s all rather glorious really.

If you need proof, look no further than the utterly beguiling Canterbury based Lucy Kitt. This unassuming songstress, formerly of an all-female grunge act, has a five track EP available, “Mornin Sun”. And it is a very beautiful thing.

Kitt takes much of her inspiration from the Canadian folk tradition. There are big hints of a record collection featuring Joni Mitchell and Neil Young here. But occasionally, she takes a trip much further south, down to Tennessee to play with the country-rock sounds of Sheryl Crow or Seasick Steve (check out the title track, midway through the EP).

As you might expect from a musician who takes her cue from Mitchell and Young, there is a certain amount of introspection and lingering sadness in Lucy Kitt’s work. The EP opener, “Laurel Canyon” is a song about seeking the solace of solitude after a break up.

Similarly, “Gone” is a regret-tinged, post-break up song, dwelling on “what would have, could have been”. Meanwhile, the aforementioned title track is an angrier sounding song directed as much at the singer herself as the former lover with the “selfish disposition”.

But there is still room for happiness and a cheerier attitude in Lucy Kitt’s songs. And this is more than evident in the simple, but elegant “Days Like These”, a contemporary folk anthem in the tradition of “Big Yellow Taxi”. But rather than bemoaning not knowing what we’ve got till it’s gone, this song is more about not believing we’ve actually got it so good: “You know that life ain’t perfect/but today’s that what it seems.”

When Lucy Kitt performed this song to a small, devoted crowd at the Smugglers Festival in September 2011, this was a clear, obvious highlight of the weekend. The song is a real treat.

Lucy Kitt’s songs have a gentle splendour to them which you cannot but help falling in love with. She’s currently forming plans for a return to the studio where, no doubt, more of these musical gems will appear.

Here’s hoping anyway. No. Here’s knowing.

Find out more about Lucy Kitt at http://www.myspace.com/lucykitt