Rhiannon Giddens

There Is No Other (with Francesco Turrisi)

She's gotta try and team up w Béla Fleck for the next album.

Oh shoot, I guess I like folk now. Something about Giddens' voice is strangely hypnotic and provocative and the sounds/instrumentation (initially traditional, with a few abstract moments in the middle) really bring this album to another level than a standard singer-songwriter album...

While I was underwhelmed to begin with, Rhiannon eventually won me over with her quirky blend of art punk and folk, clearly taking inspiration from her older contemporaries such as Patti Smith and PJ Harvey. The incorporation of avant garde and Jazz aesthetics really adds to the overall flair of the album. And despite being over an hour in length, the album always keeps things fresh and exciting. Just a shame that there are a few too many duds on this thing.

Standout: Little Margaret
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Rhiannon Giddens albums are challenging to review, in no small part because Giddens’s recent works are largely impervious to popular music criticism — even within contemporary folk music. The woman is operating on another plane, and her genius is widely, deservedly recognized; Giddens received a MacArthur Genius grant for her reclamation of Africana roots within American folk and bluegrass music, while No Depression recently named her Artist of the Decade. As a result, it seems ... read more