'Wheels Going
By'
is a slack-jawed and insouciant hymn to the pleasures of
ridin' the rails, like some long-gone drifter; it's
clackety-clack
rhythms mirroring the motion of the boxcars. It's a happy
tune for easier times. By contrast, 'White Dove's Awake'
is all haunted melancholy, describing the inevitability
of change and the impossibility of going back. The guitar
chimes like Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here', and when
Eileen sings "The air's electric", it seem as
if it really is.
"Two In One', next, is different again. Somewhere in
the vicinity of "Highway 61", Eileen sing-talks
her way through a dense, Dylan-esque lyric of febrile
intelligence,
which informs us how "it's not the time for bearing
souls/Wearing weakness on your sleeve/Or being
ugly".
She sure sounds pissed off about it.
From there we go to her paean to everyone's favourite
gruff-voiced
loser (and Eileen's artistic nemesis) in 'Tom Waits
Crooning'.
Over the tender chords and sensitive strings, Eileen
remarks
on how "You spend too much time thinking"
before
closing on "In the middle of the night/I'm wide
awake/I'm
covering it/I'm covering it". You better believe it;
Eileen's up, burning the midnight oil, doing the
emotional
legwork so you don't have to.
Penultimately, stands 'For Marlene', a compelling, if
chillingly
uneasy, listen. Marlene is the mother of Eileen's best
friend,
who was murdered years ago. The song describes her
mother's
struggle to come to terms with this motiveless and
still-unsolved
waste of life. It's hard to think of many other artists
who could deliver such an honest and moving treatment of
such sensitive subject matter, and make you actually want
to bear hearing it.
Finally, like welcome redemption, there is 'Big Dog'.
'Big
Dog' is blinding, a big celebration of a song of the kind
they don't write anymore. In it, nine year UK resident
Eileen
sings of returning to her native New England, and sounds
pretty jolly at the propect. "Got time for one more
pint/Don't get me wrong/You folks are alright/And it's
been
international/But I'm going home!" It could be The
Band or Creedence , and joyous as it is, it leaves you
with
a definite desire to ring her up and urge her not to
leave,
not when we need her so bad.
'Long Shot Novena' was produced by Eileen with guitarist
Kris Dollimore and pedal steel player Iain Harvey. It was
recorded at Kris' house for 10 grand. Also playing on the
record are Davey Bull (guitars/backing vocals), Mark
Price
(drums) and Barry Payne (bass). Glen Matlock guests on
bass
on 'Snake'.
'Long Shot Novena' is Eileen's second solo album,
following
on from last Spring's highly acclaimed 'Shine Like It
Does'
(also Rough Trade). She has toured with Ryan Adams, the
Pernice Brothers, Ron Sexsmith, Eddi Reader, Ani Di
Franco,
Turin Brakes, extensively throughout Europe and
America.
Eileen was born to Irish/Italian parents in Saugus, north
of Boston, Mass., the youngest of nine children. She was
previously in local bands Medici Slot Machine, Daisy
Chain
and Fledgling.
www.roughtraderecords.com
