Liz Janes Will Hush Your Weary Heart to Sleep

The chance to hear Janes’ voice in an even more stripped down, traditional setting is not without its allure.
Liz Janes

Or so says the Asthmatic Kitty website. Which I was perusing when I came across this interesting little tidbit. Liz Janes is teeming up with SoundsAreActive’s improv outfit Create(!) to record a CD of public domain songs.

According to the label, “minimalist guitars, ambient drones, and nuanced drum-brushes accompany Liz’s hushed contra alto vocal stylings. The recording relinquishes all the bells and whistles from Liz’s previous recordings, augmenting instead the understated elements of Negro spirituals, love ballads, and traditional folk songs we know so well.”

The track listing includes such standards as “Lonesome Valley,” “All the Pretty Horses,” and “Jesus is a Dying Bed-maker.” More on the album can be found here.

I’ll admit that I’m not terribly familiar with Create(!)‘s music — Orlando from Havalina is in the band, so they can’t be too bad, can they? — but I dig Liz Janes’ music quite a bit. Poison & Snakes might not be the easiest of albums to get into but it definitely has its rewards. And the chance to hear Janes’ voice in an even more stripped down, traditional setting is not without its allure.

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