Renmin Park

One can always identity the Cowboy Junkies by the unmistakable vocals of Margo Timmins. She sings with a sweet grace that has always given great heft to the musings of her brother, the Junkies’ guitarist and songwriter, Michael Timmins. This 2010 release was named after the park where Michael spent part of his three months in China while waiting to adopt two children. This cultural shift to the East affected both Michael’s own personal space and his band’s approach, as the tunes ride by with an extra spike in their delivery. The guitars purr with greater intensity, keyboards play towards genuine depth and a series of found sounds add to the atmospheric whirlwind. Michael’s experiences are given a brilliant treatment by Margo, who turns bright and pop for the original Chinese-music tune “My Fall” by Xu Wei and dark and foreboding for “A Few Bags of Grain” and the appropriately-titled “Little Dark Heart.” Chinese songwriter and performing artist Zuoxiao Zuzhou (ZXZZ) adds lyrics and his own vocals to “A Walk In the Park.”