Abbie Cardwell - By Hook Or By Crook (Album)
If you’re up for a country mile’s travel down the brother sister folk/roots freeway, hang a left at Angus & Julia to arrive somewhere near Abbie and Jed. Cardwell, that is. From Adelaide via America, Abbie is the vocalist as she joins older brother Jed in Melbourne for this her fifth release. The duo employs an organic range of instruments, vocal overdubs and proven players including the established rhythm of drummer / artiste / suit tester Ashley Davies (Matt Walker / Might Servant), a consistent associate to quality such as this.
But the spotlight is on Abbie and the results are impressive.
Within seconds this long player solidifies as suitable full player by setting your world to that of hers, a reservedly ebullient cool, countrified calm. With some effortless plucking, strumming and sweetly sung vocals on tracks like ‘3am’, ‘Goodnight’ and ‘Poverty’, it’s an ideal accompaniment in that golden hour of Sunday solitude, a long drive or freshly broken heart.
The album peaks with alt. country slacker ‘Chip Chip’ [“Chip chip, bit by bit, I’m gonna take my time”] followed by the catchy chorus of ‘Atlanta’. Earlier during ‘I Miss the Friend’ Cardwell exhibits a robust, lived-in voice somewhere between Mia Dyson and Joan Wasser (Joan As Policewoman) for another highlight. ‘Broken’ appears in band and solo versions with equal success, the latter accentuating the effect the F-word (not quite “folk”) can offer a slow song. Vibrant times with the rockier ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’, the grassy coastal jaunt of ‘Johanna’ and title track ‘By Hook or By Crook’ where Abbie sings “I got a banjo and songs to sing, I got a band and a brother on steel string”. Meanwhile ‘Fool’s Paradise’ [“I have no home, I have no home”] meanders from dusty trails to not quite middle of the road, remaining above the line of all things good and wholesome.
From her Triple J Unearthed win in 2002 to multiple other songwriting awards, strength gained from international tours with international artists (Mark Knopfler) and the grand prize of renowned engineer Nick DiDia (whose credits includes Springsteen, Aimee Mann, Neil Young, Train and Pearl Jam amongst others) working on this album, the result is that 'By Hook or By Crook' is a definite creeper and impossible not to like. A quick skim through does it no justice with the opening bars of many songs sounding equally hokey before Cardwell’s voice brings the stories, and as a whole it takes a few spins to fully absorb. Nonetheless it’s an assured effort from another quality local artist with further potential and perhaps, hopefully some slightly more lush arrangements down the road. Someone really should lock The Sleepy Jackson’s Luke Steele and Abbie Cardwell in a studio together to create what could be Album of the Year. This however is still one of 2007’s better releases.
The artwork on By Hook or by Crook is a detailed, gatefold textured brown paper layout and with its overall design, musicianship and production; it’s the type of album you’d take home to your Mum. Or buy as a Christmas present... but play it a few times and you’ll end up keeping it.
Matt James
