Christian Kiefer & Sharron Kraus - The Black Dove (2006)

Solid collaboration between the British folk singer and Californian performer/composer.

To this point in their respective careers, British folk singer Sharron Kraus and Californian performer/composer Christian Kiefer have been working in neighboring channels of traditional folk and country. So it comes as little surprise to hear the duo's easy compatibility on their first joint effort The Black Dove. The album comfortably fits Kraus' distinctive, Oxford-bred vocals into settings of refracted Americana that recall such acts as Califone or Iron & Wine, and proves to be that rare collaboration that is equally beneficial to each of its participants.

With a voice as clear and bracing as a stream of pure-grain spirits, Kraus' work on her previous solo albums echoes that of singers like Shirley Collins, Karen Dalton, or Sandy Denny, her songs steeped in the sturdiest British and Appalachian balladic tradition. Kiefer, meanwhile, has made more varied, experimental use of traditional music, ranging from his 2002 minimalist Dust Bowl epic Exodust to the stilted western dioramas of 2003's Medicine Show. Writing together via e-mail, the two eventually were able to craft The Black Dove in a week of feverish creation. As with any such new partnership, the album is not without its tentative moments, but together these two manage to highlight several captivating, previously unforeseen aspects in one another's music. Outfitted with a cache of guitars, banjos, pump organs, and strings, Kiefer provides the arrangements to these songs with unsettling, sinister cross-currents that Kraus' earlier albums have only whispered at.

A Ph.D student in American literature at UC-Davis, Kiefer has shown a preference in his work for the sustained, libretto-like narrative. And The Black Dove is no exception, as these 15 tracks are loosely united around the fragmented account of an obsessive, doomed love affair that extends to the grave and beyond. Needless to say, the album's themes of lost love and spiritual estrangement are mother's milk for an accomplished balladeer like Kraus, and such songs as the Dock Boggs-like ramble "Missing" or the hymn-paced "The Blackest Crow" sound as ageless and irreducible as a column of hickory smoke.

Though The Black Dove opens with a deceptively tranquil prelude of flute and guitar, it isn't long before the album begins its grim, fatalistic cycle. "On the Chase" finds Kraus casting heart-shaped messages to the four winds, the narrator's romantic desire turning to bleak desperation over an atmospheric backwoods creak akin to Tom Waits' Bone Machine. This haunted rusticism continually peeks through the fissures of tracks like the conflicted "Letting Go, Holding On" and "A Snake & a Lion", before the tale's arc comes to an electrifying crescendo on the self-explanatory "Mourning," a spirited dirge laced with a furious bolt of Bad Seeds/ Dirty Three violin.

Although Kiefer is certainly a capable vocalist in his own right, the album's energy flags noticeably when he takes the microphone on "Cold Blue Room" or "Dearest", tracks that venture unpleasantly close to alt-country convention. Instead The Black Dove is best served when he sticks to edging Kraus' forceful voice with refined shade and color, or when he helps deliver such crucial instrumental interludes as the exquisite woodwind figures of "The Rocks", upon which the album's subjects take their final bow. Fortunately for all involved, Kiefer and Kraus survive The Black Dove in much better shape than the ill-fated lovers of their narrative, leaving the listener only to hope that this album signals the beginning of a long and mutually rewarding musical partnership.

Review by Matthew Murphy, Pitchfork.com

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 8. March 2010, 18:01

Christian Kiefer & Sharron Kraus / The Black Dove

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foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2018-11-21 17:01:35

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Christian Kiefer & Sharron Kraus / The Black Dove
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR8 -0.59 dB -10.95 dB 1:59 01-Prelude
DR9 -0.58 dB -11.63 dB 3:04 02-Missing
DR9 -0.49 dB -11.13 dB 5:43 03-Cold Blue Room
DR9 -0.64 dB -10.89 dB 3:56 04-On the Chase
DR9 -0.74 dB -13.61 dB 0:55 05-Glimmer
DR8 -0.01 dB -9.69 dB 4:32 06-The Blackest Crow
DR9 -0.74 dB -12.77 dB 2:50 07-White Shroud
DR9 -0.01 dB -11.95 dB 2:53 08-Dearest
DR9 -0.74 dB -13.04 dB 2:39 09-Letting Go, Holding On
DR8 -0.74 dB -10.58 dB 2:42 10-A Snake & A Lion
DR12 -1.39 dB -19.67 dB 1:46 11-Sinking
DR6 -0.01 dB -10.83 dB 4:13 12-Mourning
DR8 -0.53 dB -10.55 dB 1:33 13-The Rocks
DR9 -0.64 dB -11.31 dB 4:02 14-The Black Dove
DR12 -0.49 dB -14.62 dB 2:06 15-Heaven & Hell
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 15
Official DR value: DR9

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 721 kbps
Codec: FLAC
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