Peter de Francia (January 25 1921-January 19 2012)
Peter de Francia's work was informed by the socialist principles which set him resolutely on the side of the marginalised and oppressed
Red Army Faction Blues
Red Army Faction Blues persuasively blends fact and fiction in its account of Germany's turbulent times from the '60s to the '80s, writes Paul Simon
Peter de Francia (January 25 1921-January 19 2012)
Peter de Francia's work was informed by the socialist principles which set him resolutely on the side of the marginalised and oppressed
Joanna Chapman-Smith
Contraries (Woundup records)
Sunday 04 July 2010
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EmailSingalong folk with a bit of bite and a lot of heart swells in Joanna Chapman-Smith until her tiny form can encase it no longer.
Luckily for the listening public, the beautiful music finds its way to this, the Canadian singer-songwriter's second record. Focusing on the "contraries" in life, Joanna dallies here with right and wrong, mind and body, good and bad.
From opening autobiographical track Urbanity, she shows a maturity in thought but a delightful naivety in her influences. The variety only grows throughout, taking in Gypsy, jazz, Spanish rhythms - it's a veritable tossed salad of musicality.
Arbitrary Lines makes something of the French accordion sound, while Between The Minds, starting with its Western-style whistle, marries Joanna's voice with her brothers Tim and Dan Chapman-Smith, bringing a depth a breadth to the record which her sweet voice solo seems, at times, to lose.
In Contraries, Joanna has delivered an album of opposites which never dips below excellent.
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