1. The Throng on the Pier
2. The Lily and the Rose
3. Waterwood
4. Stone Lake
5. Me and the Machine
6. Light on the Wall
7. The Seventh Ingress
8. Paint the Wind
9. How should I your true love know?
10. The Search for Lost Souls - Midnight
11. Approaching the Island of Sirens
12. Dancing over Acheron

http://www.louisajohnkrol.com

LJK's new album is her most ecletic yet, and has
more in common with Kate Bush, (circa "Never for
Ever") or Happy Rhodes than it does with Loreena
McKennitt, with whom she's often compared. The
Renaissance-flavored "The Lily and the Rose," and
the stately, Shakespeare-derived "How Should I
Your True Love Know?" are the anomalous pieces
here. Most of the material here takes finds LJK
stretching her wings. The opening "Throng on the
Pier" is orchestral pop, similiar in sound to the
work Dead Can Dance's Brendan Perry explored on
"Into the Labyrinth" and on his solo work.
"Paint the Wind" and "Stone Lake" flirt with the
straightforward folkpop craft of the Innocence
Mission, while "The Seventh Ingress" and
"Approaching the Island of Sirens" move into
ambient soundscapes. Lyrically, LJK explores
fantastical and mythological themes--she uses the
texture of fantasy much the same way that Rhodes
uses science fiction imagery. "Light on the
Wall" is about leading parrallel lives, while
"Waterwood" uses whimisical fairy imagery
(butterflies on bicycles, tambourines in the sea)
to describe looking at the world with child-like
wonder. The prog-rockish "Me and the Machine"
pits our herione against technology, with a
non-Luddite conclusion--complete with computer
generated voices, while "Throng" refers to the
Illiad.

At first listen, it appears that LJK has thrown
her net and little too far and wide. But her
glorious soprano voice is the silver thread that
holds this tapestry together. Midway between
Bush and McKennit, its crystalline purity holds
the album together; her voice is the thematic
continuity of this collection. Whether whooping
like a Bacchante at the end of "Throng," or
wordlessly soaring in "Ingress," it never fails
to thrill. Her serene vocals bridge the gap
between the dreamy acoustics of the Emily
Dickinson poem set to music, "The Search for Lost
Souls--Midnight" and the wild Bjork-esque
electronica of the closing "Dancing Over
Archeon." With "Alabaster," LJK moves to the
forefront of the pantheon of progressive women.

--Craig L. Gidney


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