Sundirtwater

The Waifs | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 4, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Compass Records
• ASIN: B0012IWIGI
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,520 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Sun Dirt Water is an album born of time and distance. The geographic space between singer-songwriters Donna Simpson, Vikki Thorn and Josh Cunningham, and the long hiatus since their last studio triumph, Up All Night, created a kind of vacuum that these new songs could hardly wait to fill.

We had more songs to choose from than we ve ever had, says Josh. We ended up recording 21 or 22, so the hardest part by far was working out what to leave out and what fit together, to give the fans something that has some unity and variety and still represents where we ve come to.

Vikki agrees. "This was by far the most difficult Waifs album, in terms of finding cohesion with our different songwriting styles. But for that reason I feel it's our most interesting and risky album to date."

It's Vikki who sets the bar with the title track. "Sun Dirt Water" is a worldly, seductive groove that meanders between styles with insouciant authority slinky jazz, elegant country, smoky blues and effortlessly nails what Josh calls "our finest recorded moment to date."

"I think the recording has a really great energy to it and the vocal is the best vocal on any Waifs record. It really sets the tone for the album for me cause it has that great, liberated energy and expression in it."

From the darkly evocative storytelling of Donna's "Vermillion" and "Sad Sailor Song" to Josh's upbeat country spiritual Eternity, this sense of liberation runs an exquisitely loose thread through the Waifs' fifth album.

The eerie introspection of "Love Let Me Down," the gleeful, organ-fuelled pop of Stay, the electric riff rock of "No Such Thing As Goodbye" and the old-time ukulele thrum of Sentimental are worlds apart stylistically, but they spring from the same well of timeless roots influences and an instinct for collaborative expression that only comes with years traveling the same road.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars They Continue To Grow, March 4, 2008

By 

Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sundirtwater (Audio CD)

"Sundirtwater" is the fifth album from The Waifs, a folk-rock band from Western Australia. Their resume is fairly impressive, with their double-platinum fourth album "Up All Night", and a tour with Bob Dylan both in Australia and North America. "Sundirtwater" is a fine addition to their discography as well, with a title track which has a jazzy groove which is as addictive as anything I have heard recently. There are also a dozen other tracks which may not have the same initial draw as "Sundirtwater", but all of which hold their own with repeated listening.

This is not a group trying to repeat their past successes, but one which is exploring their musical limits. Undoubtedly they will not shed the "Folk-Rock" label with this album, but the styles go far beyond that. It is by no means perfection, but it is a diverse collection which needs to be heard, warts and all. There is something to hear in each track, whether it is the story telling folk-rock of "Vermillion", the driving rock sound of "Sad Sailor Song", or the country sound of "Eternity", or the jazzy "Sundirtwater", or any of the tracks which stylistically fall somewhere in between.

The Waifs are Joshua Cunningham (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, ukulele); Donna Simpson (vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion); Vikki Thom (vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar); and with Ben Franz (electric & double bass); David Ross Macdonald (drums & percussion). Also on the album are Reese Wynans (hammond b3, piano, wurlitzer); Dan Dugmore (pedal steel, lap steel); Jeff Coffin (clarinet); Scat Springs(background vocals on tracks 2 & 9); Erick Jaskowiak (background vocals on track 8); and Garry West (hand claps on tracks 2 & 11).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disapointed, April 19, 2008

By 

Robert J. Meyer "Music Fan" (Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sundirtwater (Audio CD)

OK, this is decent enough CD. The problem is that I LOVE everything else The Waifs have done. Their earlier material is exceptional. Folk with bits of rock, country, jazz, blended into a truly unique sound. Music that seems simple on the surface, but has surprising complexity below. Lyrics that actually tell storys, with insights that make one stop and think.

But that's the earlier stuff. This disk sounds perfunctory, as if no ones' heart was really in it but it was time to make a CD and earn some more money. It's not horrible, but it's horribly ordinary. A mish-mash of song styles, none of them the Waifs' own, and a bunch of ordinary pop-song-love-song lyrics. Yawn.

But if you're new to the Waifs, I heartily recommend any of their other CDs.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars for waifs fans ... a must, May 31, 2008

By 

M. Bauer (Evansville, IN) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sundirtwater (Audio CD)

Generally, an excellent album. I've just recently become a fan in the last 8 months or so - and when I learned they released this album I couldn't wait to own it. There are some excellent tracks - "Pony" is probably my favorite. Also enjoy "Eternity," and "How Many Miles." I did feel that track 11, "Stay" was a bit disjointed, and didn't relate well with the rest of the cd - but in the end, I adore the waifs and if you're a fan... you can't go wrong with this album ... on a whole, it's got a little of everything that makes them what we've come to love!