The album opens with “Reason Enough,” which has a gentle and pretty folk sound as it starts. It is the song’s chorus that really grabs me: “She’s calling, calling/From the top of the tree looking down at it all/She’s calling, calling/Life is so big and so very small.” The line about life being so big and so small in particular is striking. It’s about perspective. But it’s also the beauty of Katie’s delivery of the chorus that affects me. She uses opposites again effectively in the next track, singing “Somewhat lost and somewhat found/And all the big is now so small/And all the small is oh so big.” This track has a brighter, positive vibe. Another line that stands out to me is “No longer here, and not yet there.” I think a lot of folks can relate to that feeling. So much is up in the air these days, and it’s up to us to shape our own destinies. This track features some nice work on bass.
“Took You To Texas” a cheerful vibe from its start, with its rhythm and the playful “doo-doo-doo” vocal work. This track also features some really good work on piano. There is such a pleasant vibe about this one, and there is a delightful energy to Katie’s vocal performance. She adds little laughs at the end of some lines. She returns to that “doo-doo-doo” vocal part a couple of times before the end. That’s followed by “The Wrong Place.” There is a bluesy element to this one, and the track features some good stuff on electric guitar, along with more wonderful work on piano. “But when that sunset hit my eyes/Well, that sign for Memphis was a big surprise/Sometimes the wrong place/Is where you find yourself some grace.” Then “Tango” is all about the rhythm at the beginning, as you might guess from its title, and it builds from there, the rhythm remaining at its heart. This track also features both accordion and melodica, adding to its own special vibe. Katie Oates uses a different vocal approach for this one too, with some attitude. “Smell the fear, taste the hate on my skin/Trace that cold blue blade to its bitter end/Take a last long look at the sky.” This is one of my personal favorite tracks.
“Nothing seems to change/But all I knew is gone/Don’t get no respect/And I’m feeling so old/Sick with regret/Shut out in the cold,” Katie Oates sings near the beginning of “Trouble Walk On By.” She delivers a passionate and moving vocal performance here, with a strong amount of soul. It’s that vocal delivery that makes this track another of the album’s highlights. And like Cat Stevens’ song “Trouble” here she personifies trouble and addresses it directly: “Trouble, I know why you came/Trouble, please walk on by my door/Trouble, don’t you come around here no more.” There is a strong electric guitar lead in the second half. That’s followed by “Can’t Find My Way,” a track featuring another strong vocal performance. “Can’t find my way/The world is spinning so quickly around/Can’t tell up from down/So I’m stuck here on the ground/And I can’t find my way/My way to you.” This is a song about existing in these strange, uncertain times. “Lots of talking/But so little understanding.” This track contains some good work on organ and bass. There is then an intense vibe to “Disease,” with a somber delivery. This one also addresses the current state of the world, the current state of discourse and of certain politics: “You think being tough is never back down/Don’t question yourself, don’t be seen as weak/But what’s truly hard: admit when you’re wrong.” How is that whiny, mendacious racist holding onto the Republican nomination for president? It would have been unthinkable even a decade ago, but now our country is ill. There is a certain amount of anger in Katie’s delivery here, which is fitting. “Fly a flag, join a clan/Do you feel like a winner?”
“Dark Clouds” is a very cool number. I love the way the backing vocals repeat the title line, “Dark clouds look like rain,” and then “Everyone’s feeling the pain” and then “Oh, we need some kind of change.” There is a gospel element to that delivery. Lynn Rosser and Chris Rosser provide backing vocals on this track. This is a perfect song to follow “Disease,” and it features some good work on percussion. It is yet another of the disc’s highlights. Katie Oates then returns to a gentle, pretty folk sound for “Heart Of My Heart,” a song about being a parent. Here she sings, “No distance can keep us apart/From the mountains so high to the valleys so low/I am with you wherever you go.” But these lines hit me the hardest: “No longer a child, but whose hand do I hold/When the ones who held mine are gone/Watching you fade as your body grew old/Then letting go when you had to move on.” Then “Love Will Find A Way” is an optimistic number. “In the dark of night, when all hope is gone/Love will go on.” Yes, love is what this crazy existence is all about.
“Edge Of A Hurricane,” the album’s title track, begins in a dark place, established even before first lines: “The sky is dark and grey/A storm is coming near.” While addressing the uncertain and frightening current state of the world, this song is actually a sweet, friendly, hopeful number. And again it’s about love. What else is there, when it comes down to it? “When you reach the end of your day/With nothing left to say/I wish you love/I wish you love.” This is a pretty song. The album concludes with “Shoo Be,” which has a bluesy, jazzy vibe. Interestingly, Katie Oates sort of refers to other songs from this album in this song’s first line: “There’s wars and death, disease and greed, and hurricanes.” Yes, “Disease” and “Edge Of A Hurricane” are on our mind as we hear that line. This track features some excellent work on bass. “Be kind and love and smile and care, ‘cause like it or not/If hate’s in your heart, then hate is all you got/So sing shoo be dat and doo dah.”
CD Track List
- Reason Enough
- Up In The Air
- Took You To Texas
- The Wrong Place
- Tango
- Trouble Walk On By
- Can’t Find My Way
- Disease
- Dark Clouds
- Heart Of My Heart
- Love Will Find A Way
- Edge Of A Hurricane
- Shoo Be
Edge Of A Hurricane was released on May 3, 2024.
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