CD Review

Dar Williams
The Green World
(Razor and Tie)

For me, this album is a welcome return to the kind of songs Dar was writing in her first album, The Honesty Room, which catapulted her to folk stardom. In the intervening albums Dar seemed to be trying out poses, partly in response to pressures to address her new, young audience, partly, perhaps as a result of the total dislocation that instant fame can bring. This album goes back to The Beautiful. Here is the great songstress, a wise philosopher in magical words and quirky melodies, exploring the world, drawing images from childhood, from the nation's childhood, from the land itself. Here are songs about love, about God, about searching for things that have been lost.

Welcome back.

As avid and devoted as Dar's fans are - and I'm one - it's true that her constantly breaking voice and breathless style don't appeal to everyone. And not many of her songs are exactly singable. What I've always admired and found exciting about Dar is that she writes and performs unlike anyone else. She is a true original - a rare voice in a genre filling up with clones.Here's a sample from the album's "hit": "What Do You Love More Than Love." But my favorite track on this new album is "It Happens Every Day" with its nostalgic imagery of childhood and the losses of love. It's a gorgeous piece reminiscent of "February" from Mortal City and "I Love I Love" from The Honesty Room. -HB