Gendron, Myriam
Not So Deep As A Well
Nearly 10 years since it's initial release Myriam Gendron's cult classic debut finally gets a full European physical release + 2 new tracks that were not released on the original version. Feeling like both a trove of unearthed ancient folk and a fresh, immediate expression of a new voice, Gendron's album received a lot of praise. Remincent of the stately , skeletal beauty of the first few Leonard Cohen albums, or the plainspoken intimacy of Sibylle Baier, or Nico's wistful side, this fragile, magical collaboration with its spangly guitar-work and gamine vocals sends Cat Power/Karen Dalton/Ivor Cutler shivers through defiantly slanty songs. Equal parts soft and sorrowful, Myriam Gendron's stunning 'Not So Deep As A Well' LP became something of a sleeper hit upon its initial release back in 2014. Her debut album shone a warm lamp-light glow upon a curious and captivating new voice in the Quebecois folk world. Recorded alone in her apartment, with no knowledge of sound engineering, it could almost be a lost artefact, a dust-lined document of a forgotten time and place. Taking the poems of Dorothy Parker, whose work Gendron stumbled upon by chance in a Montreal bookstore, she imbues the words with a graceful, gentle expression, a lingering sense of sorrow always present. A stark, spellbinding collection, 'Not So Deep As A Well' is raw and unyielding in so many ways we no longer expect to hear. As if sitting in the room with her, Gendron's voice is cracked and unadorned, quietly forced into a push and pull between the quietude of the songs and the noisy world outside.