“One More Autumn†starts out with Cheron using a vocal inflection that sounds a lot like Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi†than anything that has came out in the last thirty years. There isn’t much in the way of extra instrumentation to “Goodnight Amelia†besides a guitar and a bass. Of course, the focal point of this track has to be Cheron’s voice, which is something that is never challenged by the arrangements on this track or any of the others on “One More Autumnâ€.
“Time†is a much more fulfilling track in that the instrumentation is much more active and uses a number of other instruments to make up for a much less active vocal track by Cheron. There are hints of American music stuck throughout “Time†in the sense that the bongos play to the late sixties hippie vibe of Cheron, while there is a construct created by the guitars that give the song a classic country feel. It is only during tracks like “Untitled Song About Drinking Alone†that both Cheron and eir band get on the same stage. This much more laid back track is a perfect blend of the two threads that have previously struggled for dominance on “One More Autumnâ€. The use of multiple vocal layers on “Untitled†has to be the one smart addition that is made during the first half of “One More Autumn†that will endear Cheron to all of eir listeners.
Each of the songs on “One More Autumn†are done in a way that individuals that are listening in can easily appreciate Cheron, but there is little in the way of material there for advanced music fans that wished to be challenged by this album. For example, during “Ghost Timeâ€, the rhyme structure employed by Cheron may beat the lyrics into listener’s heads but is not one that holds up over a number of plays. Cheron is better than a number of the female artists on the market that are trying to make it big (such as Zicari and Sage), but ey really is trapped by a number of the same pitfalls as those aforementioned artists. Even the inclusion of interesting instruments during songs like “Gone†cannot save this album from large amounts of ennui and unfulfilled potential. This is a perfectly serviceable bit of pop music, but is not enough to stand on the same stages as arts like Amos and DiFranco.
Top Tracks: Gone, Julie’s Song
Rating: 4.0/10
Carrie Cheron – One More Autumn / 2006 Three Mile Ceiling / 12 Tracks / http://www.carriecheron.com / Reviewed 28 July 2006
[JMcQ]