“We’re born and raised and buried on somebody else’s land,” goes the opening line in the second verse of the title track, and it’s there in the lyrics that the fierce intelligence of Cape Breton’s Mikol registers. Though the production of her full-length is polished and ready-for-radio—which may surprise those familiar with her scrappy acoustic sets—Mikol’s sure way with a melody, straddling country and folk traditions, is warm and organic. Her dusky voice makes a hard line like “I got lies so lucid they’re almost looking truthful,” seem almost comforting. It announces her as a hardcore troubadour and a softcore cynic, winning either way.
This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2010.