Performing Songwriter Magazine (Vol. 10, Issue 70), June 2003 DIY Reviews: Top 12 Do-It-Yourself Reviews http://www.performingsongwriter.com/pages/70/diy12.cfm
Sara Pace Self-Titled Produced by Sara Pace, Doug Milks and Lance Ketterer
Unde [+]Performing Songwriter Magazine (Vol. 10, Issue 70), June 2003 DIY Reviews: Top 12 Do-It-Yourself Reviews http://www.performingsongwriter.com/pages/70/diy12.cfm
Sara Pace Self-Titled Produced by Sara Pace, Doug Milks and Lance Ketterer
Understated and absolutely lovely, Sara Pace's record Self-Titled (yep, that's the title) is a mesmerizing foray into windswept Midwestern folk. Her compositions and melodies call to mind Greg Brown and John Prine, especially on tunes like the pedal steel-bejeweled "Gilman Avenue." Her reserved, glimmering voice conjures both Gillian Welch and Nanci Griffith, though it's not so fragile.
This is a moody, ghostly record subdued both in content and delivery. And it's gorgeous. At its most haunting, on songs like "Lay My Body Down" and "More Real", this record sweeps across the listener like a chill wind. At its most melancholy, as on "Starlight", it is heartbreaking. At its most joyous, on "Hard to Imagine" it's bouncy and infectious but, ultimately, not really all that happy-just beautiful.
DIY Record Reviews by Clay Steakley
****
RICK'S CAFÉ South Central Wisconsin's Local Music Newsletter (Vol. 1 No. 5) May 9, 2003 Review by: Rick Tvedt, Editor http://www.rickscafe.org
Sara Pace has written a great album. Beautifully recorded by Lance Ketterer at Digital Glass studio in Mazomanie (WI), "self-titled", Pace's first recording, radiates sincerity and wisdom beyond her years. Acoustic guitars, provided by Pace and her musical partner (and now husband) Doug Milks, are the main backdrop for these folk tales, which are sparingly augmented by violin, steel guitar, and in some cases, bass and drums, leaving plenty of space for Pace's sweetly intoned stories. It's an exercise in understatement that works both musically and lyrically. Pace's voice at once sounds both Midwestern and Kentuckian, a smooth alto that underscores the beckoning nature of her songs. Never delving too far into country, and exposing shades of a more alt-country sensibility, 'self titled' comes off as a folk rocker's resignation to self-restraint.
Recurring themes in these songs are aging and reflection and Pace mines these thoroughly and effectively. "Lay My Body Down," one of the most compelling on the disc, find's Pace's vocal sou
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