Tag: Sheila K Cameron

Whatever you’ve been listening to this year, I doubt that you’ll have heard anything quite like On Sanity’s Shore. Sheila K. Cameron – or SKC – is a Glasgow based, Canadian folk and blues singer/songwriter, whose career has followed an unconventional path. After early attempts to establish a career as a folk singer, SKC moved away from music to become deeply involved in an NHS community clinic in Glasgow’s East End, supporting children through difficulties in their lives. More recently, she returned to music, with lots of previously unreleased material and a desire to make up for lost time. This has so far led to ten collections of this material being released as albums.

On Sanity’s Shore is the latest of these collections, and here the songs are joined by more recent poetry. The retrospective nature of it helps to give the album its unusual feel, as does the combination of music and spoken word tracks, with some of the latter including sung sequences. It’s also a long album with twenty-eight tracks. Some of them are very short, but it still comes in as a hefty 74.73 minutes. All this makes it a difficult album to describe, but don’t be put off, because SKC is a talented writer and performer, and there are some very fine tracks here. SKC views this as the most personal of the recent albums, exploring a range of life’s emotions. Sometimes it’s sad and regretful, but there is also love and optimism, as well as a stoic acceptance of the vagaries of existence.

The album has a strong opening with ‘Where The Pebbles Grind And Scrape.’ This is a sad song of longing for what is lost, with a beautiful folk tune and a fine piano accompaniment. We also hear the haunting quality of SKC’s voice for the first time.

Two spoken word tracks follow. The second of these, ‘On The Road Going Nowhere’ shows the more stoical side of SKC’s writing, ‘On the road going nowhere, on the road I belong.’ There’s no choice or point in trying to change things, contentment can be found in acceptance. By contrast, ‘When I was a Bad Girl’ is a sharp blues rock song, driven by electric guitar. The lyrics tell of childhood unhappiness, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is going to be a gloomy album, but the mood changes and several songs of love and contentment follow.

Among these is another very strong track, ‘Lie A While Longer My Love.’ It’s beautifully sung, with a delightful tune and deeply tender lyrics, ‘Lay your head on my breast, Close your eyes and sleep.’ A loving song, given extra poignance by a hint towards imminent parting.

There are a range of styles here, but SKC’s main musical inspiration is the Blues, and my standout track – ‘I Looked Alright This Morning’ – is a great bit of harmonica driven Blues. The lyrics are also suitably bluesy, telling of lost love and longing. Elsewhere, ‘Fall by the Wayside’ has a rhythmic Blues feel, underscored by some good piano and bass. The lyrics deal with troubles and possible redemption:

‘A fall can get you closer than you’ve ever been before,
To knowing who you really are and what you really need.’

‘It’s Gonna be Alright Now,’ has a nice Blues piano accompaniment, and a laconic feel. The lyrics have a similar message around self-forgiveness for past mistakes.

SKC’s poetry, which is recited on the spoken word tracks is, like all of this album, deeply personal and often genuinely affecting. ‘Remembering Mr. Toast’ is a spoken word track with musical accompaniment, which deals with the pain of lost love, ‘A strong wind tore into the sea and the memory of you tore into me.’ The title track is a thoughtful poem, encapsulating the album’s two main themes. The pains of life are present, but so is he hope that a way through them can be found. Past sadnesses are seen here as ‘Rain that fell long ago’ but this is now ‘A rain that I choose not to know.’ We can move on.

I started this review by describing On Sanity’s Shore as an unusual album. This is partly due to the mixing of music and poetry. It’s also deeply introspective, very wordy, and driven by a desire to make sense of life. This might make it seem quite daunting, and its length probably adds to this. It’s an album that really does need repeated listening to be fully appreciated. For anyone who does stick with it though, there’s a lot to enjoy. SKC is clearly a talented singer and songwriter, as well as an accomplished poet. Her expressive voice works well for both music and poetry. The musical arrangements are ambitious and very well performed.

The lyrics, despite the presence of loss and sadness are often unexpectedly uplifting. On Sanity’s Shore concludes with another strong track. ‘I’m Feeling Lost Bring Me Home’ has a gentle, Americana tune, with a touch of the Hammond organ. The lyrics might be about a lost soul, but home and safety are calling. Maybe the purpose of SKC’s work is to be a balm for lost and troubled souls.

As I said before, SKC’s main musical influence comes from the Blues and one of her poems, ‘The Soothing Of The Blues’ seems to sum up her musical philosophy. The message is that a sad song isn’t a counsel of despair, but a way of dealing with pain and to ‘Get the sadness out.’ This is what the Blues did for its first exponents, and can still do for us now:

‘No matter where you’ve come from, or how hard the road has been,
There’ll be a need to get the sadness out and sooth the hope back in.’

Graham Brown

Artist’s website: www.sheilakcameron.com