Send "Karen Elson " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 With her blazing red hair, alabaster skin, and shaved eyebrows, Karen Elson was a remarkable presence in glossy ads and fashion spreads throughout the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. Stating that a model’s looks are “unconventional” to the fashion industry norm, however, usually provokes a few eye rolls. Unconventional or no, even left of center models still meet otherworldly height and weight requirements. Although Elson’s debut album, The Ghost Who Walks, should be taken without Elson’s previous career hindering judgments, the fashion world analogy is an appropriate one. Elson’s album, like her look, is arresting, but genre conventions are very strictly in place. Elson is gifted though, and this is apparent from her mournfully captivating delivery on the album’s title track. Although in subject matter—a girl’s ghost recounts a stab wound that both broke and silenced her heart—it comes across as a response by all the girls who have ever been murdered by the pen of Nick Cave, the song’s outstanding beauty compensates for its risks of appearing derivative. Wise enough to not concern herself solely with murder ballads, Elson dabbles, albeit safely, in a number of styles throughout The Ghost Who Walks. Her time spent collaborating with the poli-cabaret outfit the Citizens Band is evident on “100 Years From Now”. Originally penned for the troupe, Elson’s delivery, now gentle yet lofty, again rescues the song from being a photocopy. “Lunasa”, which was written by Citizens Band member Rachelle Garniez, and “Cruel Summer” are spare folk songs that would be just at home on a release by any number of artists who find everlasting inspiration in traditional folk ballads, catwalk skills or no....full text |
| Bbc |
| A complaint-cum-observation surrounding the ascendance of certain musicians is that it’s not what you know but who you do that counts. This is, mostly, nonsense: few artists attain wide exposure without some ability, be it innate or imposed upon them through conditioning. So one can sympathise with fashion model Karen Elson for having reservations about recording songs she’s written since 2005, following relocation from New York to Nashville with her husband. That husband: a certain Jack White. Those shrill sounds: cynics sharpening their blades before giving The Ghost Who Walks a chance. White’s presence cannot be ignored – he might be behind the kit, but the bluesy guitar tones and rootsy ambience of some of these arrangements bear his influence. He also acts as producer, so has had a substantial amount of input in shaping the end result. But this should not detract from the talents of our headliner, as Elson clearly has an astute ear for lilting melodies and a clever lyric. She sings with a comfortable confidence, an attractive Cat Power-like huskiness pervading pieces like Pretty Babies and The Birds They Circle; but never does she steal the limelight wholly. In this respect, The Ghost Who Walks sounds more like a full-band record than a solo affair – perhaps a result of the stellar cast assembled. Among the performers are The Dead Weather’s Jack Lawrence and My Morning Jacket’s Carl Broemel, and also present is Meg White’s husband Jackson Smith, son of Patti....full text |
| Antiquiet |
| It’s hard not to be skeptical when a well-renowned musician gets married and starts making music with his wife – especially when said wife hasn’t exactly had much of a musical career previous to the marriage. Whatever the case, it would be unfair to judge Karen Elsons’s first album, The Ghost Who Walks, based on her husband’s (Jack White) career. Sure, Mr. White produced and played drums on the album, but, according to Karen, “never changed anything or said ‘you need to do this.’” We recall Courtney Love saying something like that about Kurt Cobain during Hole’s very short glory days (AKA before Kurt died), but let’s leave the husband factor outside of the equation for now. The factor that cannot be left out of the equation is that there currently exists an abundance of female singers in the pop-rock-country-infused-blues-folk-whatever genre. Not to sound misogynistic, but you can go from Jenny Lewis to Cat Power, to Zooey Deschanel, to Alison Krauss, to KT Tunstall, all the way down to Taylor Swift, and you have a bit of a crowded market here. Yes, all those singers have their singularities that make them stand out from each other in special ways (except for Swift), but it’s still hard to see what room there would be for Karen Elson to stand out. This is the same gut-reaction anyone in their right mind would have to a new trip-hop act these days – we already have Portishead and Massive Attack, and those are as good as it gets, so why more?...full text |
Karen Elson lyrics
|
| |||||||
