Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2009

Karli Fairbanks adds bigger sound on latest CD

By Jeremy Dutton, Herald staff writer

Herald staff writer There doesn't seem to be an experience regarding love or loss that Spokane's Karli Fairbanks can't write about.

On her latest release Breaking of Our Days, the singer-songwriter breaks from the lonely strum of an acoustic guitar adding a full band treatment. An electric guitar opens the bluesy I Can Almost Tell. A brisk piano line keeps the pace in Needle and Thread. A slide guitar draws out the emotion on Down the Line. A ukelele helps lighten the don't-give-up message on Forms of Getting Beat.

The added layers don't amp up her sound much, they just flush out much of the potential she displayed on her debut Bitter Blue. It's also a stronger, more confident effort.

Bitter Blue showed off her lyrical chops. But it doesn't matter how good of a songwriter you are, when it's just an acoustic guitar it's a hard listen through an entire album as songs begin to blend together. On Breaking of Our Days, every track stands out and her ability to build a sing-along chorus portends good things to come.

The call of "I'm comin for ya but I don't know why" on Two Directions is almost impossible not to sway to, but it also shows off a theme she touches on often: the uncertainty of love.

She hits a poignant note again on I Can Almost Tell singing "I was wanting things but you couldn't tell. Are you hungry, cause I feed you well. Are you wanting things, I can almost tell."

After quite a bit of touring it looks like Fairbanks has realized she has a big enough voice to carry over the added elements. Good thing too.

After seeing her live, she's definitely got the ability to lead the charge of a full-on band that can bring on a needed edge to her sound.

You can catch Fairbanks at the Red Room in Kennewick on April 13. She'll be playing there for the first time with a proper backing outfit when she opens for Portland's Horse Feathers.