Artist: Sylvie Simmons
Album: Blue on Blue
Label: Compass Records
Release Date: 6.22.2020
Blue on Blue is an unexpected pleasure, an 11-track album rich in swirling sensuality and a sultry feel that seems strangely at odds with the principal instrument here, a ukulele. Simmons is a Brit, now based in California, and made a mark in recent years due to her writing as a biographer of Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Debbie Harry.
For too many years now the ukulele has been viewed by too many as something of a near-joke, a toy instrument. Shades of the late Tiny Tim and his high-pitched warbling may have dampened enthusiasm for the instrument over the years though it has its fans, champions and even maestros in the likes of Wisconsin’s Lil’ Rev, the truly fiery picking of blues picker, Del Rey and the innovative work of Jake Shimabukuro, among others. In the UK, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has possibly set the bar for sheer musical fun, delight and virtuosity with a repertoire that veers regularly from the theme to Thunderball through Robert Johnson’s “Hot Tamales” to the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer,” an eclectic smorgasbord that singularly highlights the instrument’s versatility.
A sophomore offering, Simmons brings her own haunting touch and an ethereal vocal delivery to this fine, fragile-feeling project, one that genuinely grips the listener and stays intriguingly novel and revealing. It’s hard not to fall in love with this unexpected release, its songs of love and a life lived with passion, and I, for one, found its sheer beauty both strangely seductive and near-impossible to resist in many ways. This is one of those albums that guarantees pleasure with a dash of quirkiness at the core. And in these decidedly weird days, maybe a quirky bit of music is just what is needed.
—Iain Patience
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