A singer, songwriter, author and activist from Prince Edward Island, Canada, Tara Maclean returns to our blog with a new, live EP.
By Graeme Smith
Feature photo by Deanna Milligan
Tara first featured on these pages last year when Jane not only included her track, That’s Me, in her Female Voices round up, but also interviewed her.
Her latest project, Live In My Hometown, is exactly what the title suggests. It’s a recording of a performance that Tara treated her home audience to at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, Prince Edward Island, giving the rest of us a chance to get lost in its intimate ambience.
Live records are not easy to do. There’s a rawness to them that you generally can’t iron out as you can in the studio. You likely wouldn’t want to as doing too much post-production will ruin the magic of the performance. Yet, if the recording is not high quality enough, you end up with a disappointing mess.
Tara walks the line expertly with Live In My Hometown. Across five tracks, her charm and passion shines through as if she is serenading us personally. Her vocals are simply beautiful as they deliver songs that are full of traditional folk with a modern edge. Album opener Beneath the Path of Crows is the perfect case in point. Its simmering verses contrast nicely with its soaring choruses. A spoken word moment gives a powerful political message supporting Indigenous Canadians.
Lay Here In The Dark gives us some delicate introspection, London Bridge burns with reluctantly optimistic romance. Silence is a stirring, stripped-back moment with a dark atmosphere. Tara’s vocals are at their most soulful there. This Storm features Catherine MacLellan and Alicia Toner, and closes the EP with some brightness. The trio of voices work together beautifully against a captivating, cinematic instrumental backdrop.
Tara is currently in the studio at home and over this side of the pond in London working on her new album. Based on the evidence of this EP, it’s going to be a good one.
You can watch the live performances for Live In My Hometown on YouTube, and listen to the EP below.
