Sara Watkins
Album: Sun Midnight Sun
Label: Nonesuch
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.sarawatkins.com

Young fiddle player, singer and songwriter Sara has at last delivered her second solo outing since the breakup of that hot and influential combo Nickel Creek. During the three years since this album's eponymous predecessor, Sara's been rather busy, joining Garrison Keillor on his nationwide tours (and even guest-hosting his radio broadcasts), also going on tour with The Decemberists, the latter experience having arguably informed the demeanour of Sun Midnight Sun, which has turned out a breezy and in the end quite likeable affair.

First impressions can be a trifle deceptive, however, for a significant number of the ten tracks have more of a pop feel than the bluegrass stylings with which we tend to associate Sara, notably so in the case of the disc's central span. This comprises its most extended track, When It Pleases You (a Dan Wilson cover), on which banjo, guitar and soaring fiddle provide a solid foundation for Sara's quintessentially sweet and yearning vocal; this is followed by the slightly saccharinely-scored waltzer Be There (one of several collaborations with the album's producer Blake Mills, guitarist and co-founder of country-rock outfit Simon Dawes), and the clapping-rhythmed Close Your Eyes, which more than anything else recalls the more radio-friendly Dixie Chicks material.

The most cherishable moments, perhaps, are a distinctly breakneck take on the Everlys' You're The One I Love, on which Sara is joined in duet mode by Fiona Apple, and a cover of Willie Nelson's I'm A Memory which features none other than Jackson Browne; while I'd also give honourable mention to two of Sara's own compositions - the moody You And Me and the catchier album closer Take Up Your Spade. I also liked the rather bittersweet Lock And Key; but again that song, like the record itself, is over very fast (total playing time for the whole CD runs to only 35 minutes), and the lasting feel of the disc is one of slightly frothy insubstantiality, an impression which closer scrutiny of the lyrics doesn't altogether manage to dispel. And there's a curiously distorted quality to the production overall, which I find hard to reconcile with the purity of Sara's playing and singing. Don't get me wrong - I like the music on this album a lot, but I came away wanting more in the way of substance as well as more playing-time.

David Kidman