krista muir: accidental railway (2009)

Krista Muir
Accidental Railway •••½
Indica Records Inc.

Inspired by her tours of North America and Europe under the guise of keyboard-wielding Germanic character Lederhosen Lucil, Krista Muir has shed that alter ego and released this impressive debut album under her own name. Accidental Railway was recorded back in her native Canada, specifically in Montreal, that zeitgeist city where you can’t leave the house without burning yourself on some musical hot potato, and Muir herself has links to the likes of The Besnard Lakes and Stars. And while she recently trekked to the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, to show off her first 16-mm short film, it would seem she thinks that now is the time for us Brits to be exposed to her work.

The listener is drawn in immediately by the gentle yet slightly sinister, short a cappella opener ‘When You Were Mine’ with its round-robin style of vocal layering, before we’re thrown into the first song proper, ‘Summer Eyes’. It’s the kind of jangly indie-pop tune that could take you back to Reading Festival circa 1994, and shows off Muir’s ability to write a decent melody and back it up with a flash of the unexpected – in this case a burst of Hawaiian guitar.

Keeping us guessing at every turn, the breadth of styles showcased is impressive, as is her multilingualism – Greek on the superb album highlight ‘The Ride’ and French on ‘Les Ouaouarons’, a song that sounds like it could have been taught at Sunday school but remains hard to resist. Having binned her keyboard, the music seems to have been stripped back a bit, with much of it written on her baritone ukulele. Showing off her acquired skills, Muir accompanies herself on the simple but instantly memorable ‘Leave Alight’, a track which leant its name to the original incarnation of this album, released in 2007, and which featured five of the 13 tracks on offer here. She even provides ukulele charts free with the album, just in case you wanted to play along at home.

Vocally, Muir possesses a slightly chameleonic nature; her voice sounds slightly different in tone depending on the song she’s singing, but she definitely seems to share the breathy qualities of the likes of Dido. Of course, for those who shudder at the thought of the beleaguered Ms Armstrong, Muir’s style of music is generally more lo-fi and alternative with nods to the likes of both Throwing Muses and even Lykke Li. With the ability to switch neatly between the devastating beauty of ‘Concrete Lovesong’ and the up-tempo downbeat of ‘Drugging The Drain’, the album holds together well and provides an enjoyable listen.

While there is so much good stuff on offer, a few of the tracks do just pass by without making much impression. Accidental Railway may not have the depth or innovation to be a truly great album, but it’s worth tracking down this relatively unknown quantity as Muir is right, it really is about time we got to hear more of her.

Ben Urdang
UK release date: ; www.myspace.com/kristallmuir

Written by: Ben Urdang

Tags: accidental railway, krista muir, lederhosen lucil

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 11:52 pm and is filed under albums & EPs, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.