It was right that this should be billed as a band effort as the strongest parts musically were in the arrangements, both vocal and instrumental, that brought Ruth Moody's songs, as it were, off the page.
Moody has been to Glasgow often enough before to make her declarations of love for the city sound substantial. She has been here as part of Canadian trio the Wailin' Jennys, as well as in her own right, and you can believe her when she says she feels at home here.
Home is really in Winnipeg, or Winterpeg, as she would have it, and there were images of her getting through long dark months in some of her songs. Her voice is gentle and given occasionally to the slightly flat expression that's been popular for some years now. This makes her band's contributions all the more welcome. There was some really effective use of the wide palette of sounds available, from chilly, atmospheric electric guitar to bowed double bass and viola and starkly plucked ukulele and her band's vocal harmonies brought warmth and certainty to songs where Moody might otherwise have sounded a mite exposed.
Trouble and Woe harked back to the Carter Family's country-gospel, with Moody picking out a simple but effective banjo pattern amid the swelling accompaniment, and another number from These Wilder Things – her imminent second solo album, following The Garden – Life is Long found the audience in good voice, too. The one cover version on These Wilder Things, Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark, proved a real highlight in concert, with Moody suggesting an attractive vulnerability as well as bringing out the song's natural anthem-like quality.
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