Homemade Ship

Rose Melberg’s name on a record usually means two things: sweet-as-pie vocals and twee-as-pie songs. A long career of providing both with the Softies, Tiger Trap, Gaze, and now under her own name has led fans to count on her, and 2009′s Homemade Ship album provides exactly what you would expect on both counts. Taking a step back from the slightly slick production of 2006′s Cast Away the Clouds (which featured drums and a more polished production style), the record is very intimate and relaxed. She gets a little help from P:ano’s Larissa Loyva (backing vocals on “Clay Bride” and “The Whistle Calling You,” piano on “Sidewalk”), but otherwise the album is just Rose, her double-tracked harmonies and a guitar running through a batch of songs that sound both wintry and warm. Seeing that they were recorded in the middle of winter in Vancouver, it’s no surprise that there’s a chilly undertone underneath the typically cozy harmonies. It’s also no great shock that the songs are full of rich and tender emotion and that Melberg’s restraint and tenderness are as powerful as any octave-stretching shouter. She knows you don’t have to be a showoff to show emotion. In fact, the quietest songs on Homemade Ship are the most touching. The hushed “The Whistle Calling You” has her most affecting lead, “Truly” is heartbreakingly direct, and “Moon Singer” is almost painfully sweet and cute. The entire album is touching and quietly beautiful. Just as you would expect from Rose Melberg. – Tim Sendra