Montreal folksinger Katie Moore – she took home the ECHO Songwriting Prize for Wake Up Like This in 2011 – returns after a four-year break with the breezy Fooled By The Fun. A natural ease runs through the album’s 45 minutes, with loose and organic arrangements that make it sound effortlessly executed. Sometimes, though, that relaxed vibe works against it, sacrificing dynamism for mellowness.
Moore is never a bore lyrically, but her delivery can sometimes pull down the energy. Baby Can I Hold You drips with sentimentality but never really translates heartache because of its generic (though pretty) arrangement and lack of vocal immediacy. But everything clicks on the gorgeous Time, with its slow-burn crescendo. Best is when Moore channels the ramshackle looseness of the Band, like on off-kilter Leaving and the organ-fiddle-funky-guitar combo in the title track.
Top track: Fooled by The Fun
Katie Moore plays Burdock on Thursday (September 10).
