Voodoo King

Canadian singer/songwriter Bill Bourne is a stylist of a type that will draw in many, but put off others. His bluesy folk sound is introspective and gives the impression of being performed for the performer's benefit alone. He plays sparely, making each strum and plucked string sound hard-won, adding the occasional lonely countermelody by saxophonist Brett Miles. His singing is equally reflective, his poetic lyrics thrown away in murmurs. At his most raucous, as in "Portland," he suggests Tom Waits in his gritty folk-blues playing. It's a style that, were it coming from an aged Delta bluesman, would seem mysterious and authentic, but that seems received when coming from a journeyman Canadian. Happily, he adds other styles to the basic one, but while they provide variety, they also have the sense of having been acquired. "Holy Holy," for example, has a pleasant South African lilt, but doesn't seem any more true to the artist's roots. It also makes the album sound as if several different people are performing rather than one. Eight albums along, Voodoo King may not be the place to start with Bourne, but it is a good example of his mix-and-match sense of stylistic borrowing.