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Myshkin's Ruby Warblers: Corvidae
[Doublesalt]

The arc of Myshkins career has been a long one. After years spent touring alone from her home base of New Orleans, the one-named singer gathered her Ruby Warblers in 2001. Since then, the band has continued to tour, establishing themselves in smaller venues across the East coast and Europe as an enigmatic fusion of jazz, folk, and blues.

Corvidae is burnished and lustrous, due in no small part to Myshkins arresting and pervasive voice. It is the true warble here throaty, smooth, an elastic tool that she has obviously honed through her touring and collaborations with other local artists. The band is as accomplished as its guitar-playing front woman, though soft cello, bass, piano, seesawing violin, and brushed drums abound (pay special attention to the cello in For Mimi in Jail and The Dance, and to the violin solos in Blackberry Winter and Pipeline). They even dare to use a few loops and samples, none of which are overpowering. The electronic touches one occasionally picks out only add a near ambient street feel to the album; its like happening upon a tiny blues club with the door propped open to catch the breeze, carrying in traffic and voices other than the purr from the smoky stage.

Corvidae is a classic New Orleans album blues, jazz, folk and messages of social and political struggle rolled into a smooth blend that is entirely Myshkins own. From the first track to the last, its not an album to raise your spirits, but it is absolutely perfect for slow evenings, hot afternoons, and drinking. This reviewer rarely has had the pleasure of contemplating such a beautiful album, which grows more complex on each repeated listen. This album is one of this reviewers most pleasant discoveries and highest recommendations of 2005.

Myshkin's Ruby Warblers Official Website

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