Old Cabin is essentially an alt-rock/folk solo project of Yukon’s Jona Barr involving several contributing artists. Although no discernable hooks are in earshot, with the right promotion this beautiful production should move. It is a thick-blooded blend of old granite-crunching guitar and new electronic gloop with the chunky low-end challenging my boom box. Of note is the ethereal backup vocal of Fiona Salon. To a straight and narrow person this CD sounds like lugubrious, whiney puppydog-rock. But after I add a few sticks to the scattered coals as the smoke curls around the treetops with the golden orange glow of mellowdom settling in after staying up all night smouldering, this starts to sound like a warm and friendly fire. It is a new fire of living flame in the dead of winter, stillness moving in timelessness, death and rebirth giving hope to all, thank the goddess. Or maybe it’s just the time of year.
[rating:4]
-Peter Jabs
