CD: Seeker Lover Keeper - Seeker Lover Keeper

In their native Australia Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann and Holly Thorsby are award-winning solo artists in their own right, even if their reputations have for the most part not yet preceded them internationally. Seeker Lover Keeper is both the name of their collaborative recording project and its first release, the name easily calling to mind a tripartite structure in which the identity of each major player shifts with each track - writer, frontwoman, harmony.

With three formidable talents on board the project could never be anything less than a true meeting of minds, with each artist writing songs on which the others take the lead. “Even Though I’m a Woman” is an easy standout, the same combination of simple pop song and elegant vocal performance as the most famous of Seltmann’s previous compositions - the Sesame Street anthem “1, 2, 3, 4” she co-wrote with Leslie Feist. Here, Thorsby takes lead vocals as the others offer backing. “I think I’m in love with missing you more than I love you,” she sings coyly in sweet, whispery vocals that belie her words. 

Blasko’s vocal is similar if a little more throaty, her turns on “Light All My Lights” and “Bridges Burned” made more whimsical by the addition of a delicate piano riff or repeated handclap refrain. The lightness of the songs belies a certain lyrical world-weariness, giving what could easily have become hard-to-stomach sugary love songs into something with a bit more bite, and occasional use of drum machines and samples prevent the project turning into contemporary players rehashing that other all-female "power trio" Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt did so well.

Towards the end of the album the moment of sheer beauty that make you catch your breath grow fewer, but that’s less a criticism than it is a reflection of the standalone brilliance of its opening four tracks. This is a combination of skilled songwriting and three voices which work as beautifully alone as in harmony that seems destined to unravel more with every listen.

Watch the video for "Even Though I'm a Woman"