Ashleigh Flynn
Chokecherry
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Ashleigh Flynn sure isn’t afraid to stretch out and broaden the parameters of her casual, loose folk-pop. On this album, she makes sure her strong songcraft occupies center stage, while always maintaining a willingness and cleverness in her arrangements and manners of approach that ensure her songs may be explored from most angles imaginable. Her beautiful, subtle use of light programming and samples are thankfully devoid of both the purist’s fear of “new” technology and the electro-dabbler’s clichéd use of bland pre-programmed sounds. Instead, Flynn applies whatever sounds the song needs to remain fresh and vital. And although this is an at times irregular and diverse collection of songs, there is a cohesive sense of purpose and unity running throughout the album.
There certainly are a few weaker spots on here – the bland “Don’t You Believe” being a particular example of just that – but it’d be insane to expect a perfect album at such an early stage. As it is, Flynn is an amazing artist with immense talents – not least her magnetic voice – and some larger distributor could certainly do worse than pick up Chokecherry and give Flynn the promotional backing and distribution her music so deserves. This is an intense and convincing album that holds great promise for future endeavors.
Ashleigh Flynn: http://www.ashleighflynn.com
