FrazeyFordObadiah

FRAZEY FORD : OBADIAH

Firecracker
Lay Down With You
Bird Of Paradise
If You Gonna Go
Blue Streak Mama
Lost Together
I Like You Better
Hey Little Mama
Gospel Song
Goin' Over
Half In
One More Cup Of Coffee
Mimi Song
Bonus Track :
Lovers in a dangerous Time

Label : Nettwerk

Length : 63:07

Release Date : Juyl 20, 2010

Review (AllMusic) : Canadian singer/songwriter Frazey Ford is best known as one-third of the folk group the Be Good Tanyas, and she comes from a family steeped in the French Canadian folk music tradition, so where the hell did all the R&B influences overflowing from her solo debut, Obadiah, come from? Apparently, Ford's love of soul music is a longstanding, deep-seated one, but it wasn't until she finally stepped out of the gravitational pull of the Be Good Tanyas for a moment that she was able to pursue that direction. You'd scarcely guess that Ford had such an extensive folkie CV - much less Canadian folkie - from listening to Obadiah. The inspiration of Hi Records-style ‘70s soul (Ann Peebles, Al Green, Syl Johnson) comes through loud and clear, but this isn't some slavishly imitative neo-soul outing either. Ford's unique vocal style, which mates a kittenish curl with a warm warble suggesting a lower-key, distaff cousin of Antony Hegarty, isn't exactly the sort of thing you'd hear on a playlist bookended by Macy Gray and Jill Scott. If anything, Ford comes off more like the female equivalent of early Martin Sexton, when he was using the acoustic singer/songwriter format to pursue his own love of sinuous, sexy, early-‘70s R&B. There's a laid-back, late-night vibe maintained throughout Obadiah, as Ford unleashes her moody croon over slow to midtempo tunes colored by piano, organ, and Tanyas member Trish Klein's guitar work and powered by mellow but funky, slow-rolling grooves. Admittedly, there are a few spots on the album where Ford's folkier inclinations peek out, like the lambent, country-tinged "Hey Little Mama" and "Goin' Over," and a cover of Bob Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee," but for the most part, anyone coming to Obadiah with the hopes of exploring more Tanyas territory is in for a soul-slathered surprise.

Review (Wikipedia) : Obadiah is the 2010 debut album by Canadian musician Frazey Ford, who is also a member of the Be Good Tanyas. Obadiah is recorded in the style of soul music, a departure from the folk sound of the Be Good Tanyas. The album takes its title from Ford's middle name, "Obadiah". When she was born, her parents asked her brothers to choose her middle name; they decided to name her after their pet cat Obadiah that had recently run away. Ford recorded the album with guitarist Trish Klein, also of the Be Good Tanyas. Klein's partner, John Raham, played drums and produced the record. Ford's mother, neighbour, and landlord also appear on the album. Ford has said that the album relates to an emotional time she had with her family. The record, according to Ford, also allowed her to bring together "a soul rhythm section...[and]....folk style writing", two of her great loves in music that had previously been "divided in [her] musicality". Ben Ratliff of the New York Times gave the album a favourable review and commended Ford's blending of soul and country influences. He compared her singing to a diverse group of artists, including Dolly Parton, Ann Peebles, and Feist.

Review (Pitchfork) : For 10 years now, Frazey Ford has been harmonizing sweetly and trading verses with the two other members of the Be Good Tanyas, whose easygoing vocals and rustic folk-pop have made them mainstays on Vancouver's music scene. In going solo, she's carving out her own niche while proving that she can anchor a full album on her own. Perhaps because she has taken the step of recording under her own name, or perhaps because like all new solo artists she has something to prove, the slow-burn Obadiah sounds more ambitious than her work with the Tanyas. She gingerly stretches and reshapes her band's sound to include new styles and genres and to place the weight squarely on her own carefully observed songwriting. And yet, even as Ford tiptoes between soft jazz, smoky soul, and austere country, Obadiah is defined as much by what she doesn't do as by what she actually does. Without the powerhouse voice of Neko Case or Kelly Hogan, she never belts or hollers, never raises her voice or grasps for high drama. Picking her words apart by the vowels, she keeps her vocals relatively low, slows her tempos, and soft-sells these songs. Her dried cornhusk of a voice sounds like she's channeling her interior monologue, even if she's singing from other points of view-- such as the seen-it-all rogue featured in "Firecracker" or the regretful parent remembering better days on "Lost Together". Even without her harmonizing Tanyas, Ford proves a sure presence through Obadiah, inhabiting these songs comfortably and conveying smirking sass as naturally as simmering lust or downhearted regret. "I can't think, I can't use my brain," she sings on "I Like You Better", "I can't think no more." It's the album's catchiest hook and a telling moment not only because she exudes such romantic abandon, but because Ford actually sounds like she singing without thinking. Producer John Raham calibrates the music to complement but never intrude on Ford's vocals, giving extra weight to his own drums, which gently nudge along the dusky "Lay Down with You" and her cover of Bob Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee". Stax brass builds gently through "If You Gonna Go", gently punctuating her anguished farewell, and fellow Tanya Trish Klein casually interjects spidery guitar licks to bolster the bluesy come-ons of "Blue Streak Mama". Ford is studiously avoiding alt-country caricature-- no galloping hoedowns here-- and setting and sustaining a grave mood throughout album the album. Consequently, the tempos remain rigorously uniform across these 13 tracks, as though quickening the pace might change the genre or break the spell. It makes for a warmly moody, albeit strangely static album.

Review (PopMatters) : Obadiah refers to the shortest book in the Bible consisting of 21 verses, named after a minor Hebrew prophet whose prophesies foretell the destruction of Edom, a town which took part in chasing the Israelites from Israel. There are some serious political implications to choosing a title with such weight, but, this being pop music, a name doesn’t always necessarily reflect the immediate social and political beliefs of the singer. Most often, an album title is a symbolic reflection of a variety of themes that spring forth from the collection of songs. Such is the case with Frazey Ford’s debut solo album Obadiah, an album that gains momentum with every subsequent listen. On its first spin, Obadiah lingers on guitar chords and percussive measures in ways that recall a Sun Kil Moon album, only without the grace and Americana pop payoff. Instead, what we get is more of a mood album, listenable only when you want to feel like you’re crying over your pint of ale at the bar in some rural Canadian town on the coast of British Columbia, occasionally breaking to move your hips to the infectious rhythm-and-blues country music being performed on stage. Obadiah plays very much like a live stage performance, aptly performed with some measure of certainty, but not confident enough to really let go. The instruments here serve the songs and melodies as opposed to the other way around. The songs never allow for more than a conventional by-the-numbers genre structure, but, in this case, it serves the ambience of the album — the most interesting aspect of this oddly crafted record. Frazey Ford is best known for the “sultry” vocal of the moderately successful all-girl Canadian trio the Be Good Tanyas, and it would be very easy for her to rely on her previous successes to determine the merits of this breakaway solo record. However, because Obadiah feels very much like an entity that’s all its own, it’s best to stick to the content in this record, instead of holding it up to standards already set — an impossible comparison for so many artists who attempt solo careers. Plus, Obadiah is one of the first records I have heard that has so much going on without much going on at all. Most of the record feels like it was produced within the time it takes to play the songs, and though there are definite listless moments, the album never roams too far for you to want to stop listening. What you get is an updated and cooler version of the best Cowboy Junkies record. Frazey’s strengths definitely lie in the thick grain of her voice that is almost always indiscernible. I believed for a long while that the first line in the lead single “Firecracker” was: “I was a sailor / I was sailor / I was son of a gun of a gun,” a line I later learned was, in fact, “I was a sailboat / I was a sailor / I was a sign of our goin’ of our comin’.” (I think my version is cooler, but whatever.) “Firecracker” opens the album and right away you are pulled into the religious connotations of the album’s title, especially with Frazey singing: “Hallelujah / The sparks flew up to Heaven / They saw my smile / I was laughin’ so hard.” Is she referring to the prophesied destruction of Edom by Obadiah? Or is she singing about some childhood tragedy that ended in more tragedy? Probably both. Each song is crafted for multiple interpretations and is never explicitly intended to mean more than a vague feeling, specific only to each individual listener. Frazey continues the languorous beauty with “Lay Down With You” and “Bird of Paradise”, but never does she get any cooler than when she sings, “I was just busy / Talking to blue streak mama / I was talking to blue streak / I was just busy / Talking to blue streak mama / I was talking to blue streak,” on “Blue Streak Mama”. It’s the smoothest, most soulful, and groove-inducing song on the entire record and elevates it beyond the typical Lilith Fair fare. Frazey is exuding complete cool with “Blue Streak Mama”, never raising her voice above the necessary tone, but always with an assured delivery — enough to put any disrespecting patron in his place. Unfortunately, there is never a similar moment on the record. As quickly as the assuredness of “Blue Streak Mama” comes, it goes, guiding the rest of the album into similar territory that the previous songs had already established. It’s not bad by any means, but it does leave you feeling a little disappointed that the rest of the record was not slowly rocking to a similar blues-infused beat. As a debut solo record Obadiah is quite impressive, but only if you’re in the mood the album wants you to be in. To be honest, I was not expecting much — given the sleep-inducing fare that is the Be Good Tanyas, I was expecting to struggle through this record. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a well-crafted mood record, perfect for the malaise of a sluggish late evening.