Mainstream music today is a youth obsessed culture, lining up a string of young girl, each of whom seems to be competing to see if they can succeed younger than the next. LeAnn Rimes, once the youngest singer to ever score a number one song, is off the charts and crops up only occasionally in tabloid reports about her personal life. Miley Cyrus, now nineteen, has gone from being America's Sweetheart to touring only overseas because she can no longer face US crowds. Christina Aguleria, at the ripe old age of thirty, has become something of an elder stateswoman, coaching other singers on TV's The Voice. And, its a rough ride to the limited success, a ride full of judgment and tabloid press. It should come as no surprise that an increasing number of teenage girls are opting to take a less public, more independent route. Lauren Shera was at the forefront of this movement, releasing her first cd in 2003 at the age of seventeen. She had been playing guitar and writing songs for four years and, determined to maintain control over her own career, decided to forgo the major label and release her album independently. Eight years and two albums later, Shera is still doing things her way. The result is Once I Was a Bird, and ethereal album of haunting folk-country.
“Sometimes I feel so old, but I'm still learning,” Shera sings on the opening track “Endless Sea.” It is an overview of her life, an announcement that this album is going to be the story of her life so far and what she feels she has learned from it. The album has a subtle Celtic feel, lead by fiddle and Irish percussive rhythms. This feel comes front and center on Panic Bell. “I was once a kid like you,” she contemplates on “Twine,” “barefoot songs were all I knew.” Abigail Washburn provides a finger plucked banjo that evokes summertime and skipping over rocks and fields, making clear what Shera means by barefoot songs. Shera's voice has only one major vocal weakness, and that is a tendency to fall into an almost Dar Williams level of folksy vibrato in her more lackadaisical moments. This vibrato takes over the other wise pleasant and jaunty “Bright as You Are.” The title tracks opens with a sweep of strings and finds Shera singing with her clearest and most perfect vocal on the album. “Once I was a bird and you were the sky, and I tried not to look down, so scared of the ground was I,” she sings. She often writes with an almost old-English style of writing that gives her songs the feel of much older and more traditional folk ballads. “Tether” is a spirited challenge of a love song, assisted by some luscious harmony vocals from Abigail Washburn. “Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies,” they tease, “think it over darling, 'fore you compromise.” She flips the script around on “Storyteller,” taking on the persona of the person in the relationship hearing what she wants to hear, but knows is not true. “Stealth” is an attempt to create a layered and captured chorale sound, that is only slightly waylaid by the overproduced nature of the vocal loops. Shera's vibrato returns with a vengeance on the stately and staid “Another Season.” The most ambitious track on the album is “In The Darkness” with its organs and wind chimes blending into a single backdrop. The song has fairly average lyrics, for example, “go chase your dreams, its not always as it seems.” These lyrics, however trite, are elevated by these instrumental risks and a haunting and perfect vocal performance by Shera. “Your Battle,” continues the momentum, elevating the songwriting up to the level of the gorgeous, melodic backdrop and impeccable vocals. The album closes on a slightly down note. “Red Paint” is not a bad song, but it not nearly as good as the two songs which proceeded it.
Lauren Shera has built a career on making music her way and answering only to herself. For the most part, on Once I Was A Bird, this formula works very well for her. She is a folk singer in the best tradition of folk singers, immediate and contemporary with a strong tie to the past. She is roots music, all string instruments and Celtic themes, but she still retains an original sound. Once I Was A Bird is the quintessential folk album for fans of Dar Williams and Lucy Kaplansky and for fans who love that edge of Irish sound that mines the territory where folk and bluegrass overlap.
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