Between Daylight And Dark is Gauthier's fifth album and the follow up to her 2005 breakthrough Mercy Now, which garnered high praise in the media including Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, NPR Fresh Air, CBS News Sunday Morning, Reader's Digest, No Depression, Harp, Paste and so many others. Gauthier was named 2005 NEW/EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR by the Americana Music Association.
Between Daylight And Dark was cut live, with minimal overdubs, and produced by Joe Henry. The album features guest appearances by Van Dyke Parks (piano on "Can't Find The Way") and Loudon Wainwright (backing vocals on "Soft Place To Land" and "I Ain't Leaving").
In an era when too many youthful singer-songwriters earn critical plaudits too easily, the more mature Mary Gauthier's track record has been a heartening exception to that rule. Her difficult early life and ability to create soulful, in-your-face poetry from harsh reality, occasional brutality, and hope set her apart. If anything, she surpasses her past work with this stunning live-in-the-studio effort that captures a wide range of scenarios. There's the needy desperation of the love songs "Please" and "Before You Leave" and her brilliant conjuring of the raw displacement, rage, and grief of her fellow New Orleanians in the Hurricane Katrina-inspired "Can't Find the Way" (with a cameo from the legendary Van Dyke Parks). The atmospheric title song, penned by Gauthier and Fred Eaglesmith, teems with the angst of lost love. As the hard-hitting scenario of "Snakebit" carries the tension of classic film noir, "Thanksgiving" captures a bleak holiday prison visit. "The Last of the Hobo Kings" stands as a 21st-century requiem to the vanishing transients of the past, decades before they were renamed "homeless." Joe Henry's spare, understated production only enhances the wallop of these performances. In a world glutted with Americana singer-songwriters, many plagued by a dilettantism that prevents them from plowing too deeply into the dark side of the human condition, Gauthier reaffirms--magnificently--her ability to do that and much more. --Rich Kienzle
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
original:
Mary Gauthier is original, not a copy or derivative. She is also a poet, whose lyrics are spare and concise in the style of Hemingway. She draws pictures with words. Her music is simple, complimenting her lyrics, and her delivery is subtle and expressive. Most of her songs tell stories, nearly all of them sad and painful, with depth and honesty.
Mary Gauthier's "Between Daylight and Dark":
I first heard the song "The Last of the Hobo Kings" on a college radio station in my car. As soon as I got home, I looked it up and bought this CD. The song carries you through the kind of story everyone wants to be a part of. Other songs on this CD tell stories too. Theres a song that makes you really think about New Orleans, it's surrounding areas, and Hurricane Katrina. Mary Gauthier is from Baton Rouge, and you can hear the emotion in this song. It's very easy to relate to the songs on this CD, I... more info
moving:
i do not think i can top anything that the other reviewers have said about mary g's musical genius and the haunting beauty of this cd. i can only add that as i listen to the lyrics embraced by the music i am moved to the depths of my soul and memories of darker times in my own life. i find in listening to this, a cathartic reaction that brings out the spectrum of emotions associated with those times. the sadness, loneliness and despondency of the past, but also the rising above and defeating those demons... more info
Not just any artist/writer:
I first heard "I Ain't Leaving" on the radio while driving through Oregon and couldn't wait until the end of vacation to look up the station on the internet and research their programming. Gauthier, pronounced "Go Shay", I am sure is a hindrance to discovering her, but the only one and well worth the search. One cannot describe her. She takes you to places you don't want to go and her depth of lyrics introduces you to people you don't want to meet when you get there. As sad as their endings, I dare to say,... more info
