Paula Frazer & Tarnation

After two band-assisted albums under the moniker Tarnation and three as a solo artist, San Francisco based Paula Frazer seems to have struck some sort of compromise with current incarnation, Paula Frazer & Tarnation, for her brand new album ‘Now It’s Time’. It does seem as if she has been missing the band, or someone at least, though, as this is a morose collection of lonely ballads.

Ms Frazer is clearly a lady with a rather good voice and she shows it off throughout ‘Now It’s Time’, no more so than on first track ‘August’s Song’. Singing “Do the new things you know bring you happiness? I don’t know, but I hope so”, she sets the tone for the album with a song of yearning and passion.

Right through the collection, Frazer and Tarnation play around with different (but always traditional) backing, with elements of folk, country, pop and easy listening all present. Moody strings and finger picked guitar are beautifully arranged to provide the blue backdrop to the Joni Mitchell-esque ‘Pretend’, the miserable ‘Nowhere’ is stripped down to just acoustic guitar and harmonies, while the likes of ‘Bitter Rose’ and ‘I’ll Never Know’ are classic country tracks, piano led and swathed in slide guitar respectively.

Elsewhere ‘Shadows’ is related with suitable otherworldliness, while title track ‘Now It’s Time’ provides the sole shining light of hopefulness on an almost exclusively dark album. ‘Sleeping Dreams’ is the perfect example of this. A song about giving up, Frazer urges the listener to “Lay down your sleeping dreams, there is no place to go / Silently watching the flames disappear, I’m silently wishing it so, / Silently watching it go”. A sadly beautiful country ballad it is an album highlight

What remains constant regardless of the backing style is Frazer’s exquisite voice singing about loss of love and direction. She adapts to suit the differing styles and at times (on ‘Pretend’ or in the background of ‘Another Day’ for example) she even manages to make it sound like a woodwind instrument, lending further texture to her songs. She is ably aided in this task by Patrick Main’s piano, Jasmyn Wong’s restrained drums and some wonderfully arresting harmonising from the Moore Brothers.

Filled with songs about leaving and being left, ‘Now It’s Time’ is an album of heartfelt country and folk tinged ballads related gorgeously through Frazer’s excellent voice and backed with a restrained sparseness that suits it perfectly. It is probably not an album for the indie kids: if you don’t like women singing sad country songs you’ll hate this. However, if you appreciate quality female singing and song writing look no further than ‘Now It’s Time’.

****

First published on rockfeedback. See it here.