Pam Shaffer - Henry

Hear The Track Here

After all the excitement of the Stevies, it's time to get back to the daily grind and the first real review (albeit well late) of this new year is a request through the blog. You may remember me waxing lyrical about Julian Shah-Tayler and his track Wetter (November 2010) and Pam is a friend of Julian's and and.... It really is a small world. Funny thing, all the while I was listening to this for the review I kept wondering how the dickens I was going to describe this, because it isn't a track you are going to come across that often. Oh and btw, that's in a good sense although your definition may differ somewhat from mine. It wasn't until I saw her described (on her Bandcamp page) as an 'intellectual singer-songwriter' that it finally clicked.

Whoever said drrrrrr better own up right now OK?? At least I know what intellectual means.

Henry is a track from Pam's As We Are album, inspired and based on the diaries of Anais Nin whose writing I encountered in my own callow youth, changing my view of women forever. The Henry in question in this case being novelist Henry Miller who Anais adventured with in Paris during the 1930's so if you know the diaries you'll probably get more out of the track. Even if you don't, you can savour Pam's lyrics and vocals as they stand because - when all is said and done - Henry is a lovely piece of music, beautifully performed. All that remains is for you to decide whether you like it or not and if you hear it, you probably will end up liking it. Pam's voice and style is reminiscent of a more restrained Kate Bush and that's no thing, t'all at all...

It's also worth mentioning (I think) how this particular album came about because I'm sure there are plenty of people who could make use of information like this. Mind you, to make as GOOD a track as this you would have to have the endless list of excellent musicians Pam has drawn to this project. As far as I can gather, Pam raised the initial funds through the Kickstarter website, recruited said string of excellent musicians and lo and behold, an album was born unto her. If Henry is any indication, it's a very classy album from a classy singer songwriter, intellectual or otherwise. If you are a serious musician, you need to get up to speed with sites like Kickstarter and while you are about it, grab a listen to Pam and see what is really possible.

Very distinctive. Highly Recommended.