Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There may be a truth of ego when an artist feels a large gathering singing one of their songs word for word in front them, the pitch, the sentiment, the meaning all being echoed back, that surely is a buzz that speaks for itself, the large the voice the bigger the response.

And yet what if away from the gathering of the uninhibited and the united, we find our art, each one of us offering something so unique to the world, that we are blessed within our souls to find how we may have inspired even just one person to sing our song, carry the weight of the sculpture we created in their hearts, the drama we set out on stage…how blessed would we be to find that one person to who we have filled with courage to sing softly our words and see our vision for their own.

For Mary Elizabeth Remington the pleasure is to be seen as humbling, a musician with no ego, but a towering, powerful life of digging and creating in Earth’s rich bounty…a true sense of exalting the belief behind the life rich in caring.

It is to her album, In Embudo, that the listener is offered the opportunity to seek out the generous creativity that has been let loose, the humble beginnings, the unprivileged life, is one that has melded together to showcase songs that are respectful, unpretentious, modestly open and fiercely defended, and to one whom it is only in the last decade has had this sense of trust in herself displayed and praised.

Across homespun tracks such as Dresser Hill, Fire, Green Grass, Tuesday, Wind Wind, and Holdfast, the Massachusetts raised Ms. Remington, sings heartily and without fear, her observances of humanity, of the personal, of all that wanders and the great mysteries that surrounds us, are there in each song to be discovered and enjoyed fully without one suggesting that to bring comfort to one life is not worth the energy we expend in doing so. 

We take our relief from wherever we hitch up our caravan, and it is only then that we can see with our minds the impression we wish to capture. It takes an honest soul to be so modest in their art, not once step of arrogance, nor the damning of shy repose, but a sense of sheer down-to-Earth radiance…a gift that Ms. Remington shares with her audience In Embudo.

Mary Elizabeth Remington’s In Embudo is out now on the Loose Label.

Ian D. Hall