Album Review: Mighty Ship by Angela Desveaux

Angela Desveaux's debut album, Wandering Eyes, was the work of an artist so accomplished that it was difficult to imagine she'd never made a record before. By comparison, her second disc, recorded with the help of her new backing band the Mighty Ship, doesn't pack quite the same wallop as the first set, if only because as a performer she's as precociously gifted as she was on her first sessions but not dramatically more so, though the honey-sweet flow of her Emmylou Harris-meets-Lucinda Williams delivery still enchants. But Angela Desveaux & the Mighty Ship does reveal that in the two years between albums she's improved as a songwriter; the melodies on this album are graceful and emphatic while fitting her voice like a glove, and her songs about the peaks and valleys of love have a bit more experience and weight behind them, which serves them well.

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Originally from Cape Breton but now based in Montreal, Angela Desveaux has spent the last three years growing her sound and building a solid backing band with help from producer Howard Bilerman (ex-Arcade Fire). Steeped in country, folk and pop, Desveaux errs on the side of understatement; her rich lyrics sometimes inadvertently take a back seat to the band's nuanced musicianship, anchored by lead guitarist Mike Feuerstack. Lacking anything excessively catchy - save for a great guitar solo in Red Alert - Desveaux's biggest challenge will be differentiating herself from the slew of similar-sounding Canadian acts.

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