Canadian folkie marries poetry and music
I love checking the mailbox here at The Pulse. There’s always something interesting. Once there was even a piece of hate mail which I kept and have a look at any time I need a laugh.
I was quite pleased, recently, to find a package from Noah Zacharin about a new album and an upcoming gig in Chattanooga. Alas, I was immediately dismayed to discover the gig was back in November.
Funny thing about the mail, I can order something from Guangzhou, China, and have it in two weeks. I can order something from Canada (where Zach is based) and get it three months later.
So, unfortunately, Noah’s local gig has come and gone and while I wish I could have helped promote it, I can at least still tell you about this remarkable new album.
In the first place, Noah is a critically acclaimed guitarist, practicing that particular craft since the tender age of nine. It’s a skill that pairs nicely with his song-writing ability, which has been likened to that of James Taylor and David Wilcox.
In fact, Rick Fielding, a musical legend in his own right, once said of Noah, “He’s…one of the best songwriters this country has ever produced.”
For a country that has given the world the likes of Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Stan Rogers, and Joni Mitchell, that is one hell of an endorsement. In reviewing A Startle of Wings, it’s evident that Fielding was not exaggerating.
Weighing in at fourteen tracks and forty-nine minutes, it’s a study in what’s best in contemporary folk music.
Nature is an ongoing theme throughout the album, sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically, but it certainly speaks to what makes the man tick (when not touring or recording, he spends his time in an off-grid cabin in a region known as the geological core of the North American continent).
The imagery is gorgeous and effective and this comes as no surprise given that Zacharin is also an accomplished and award-winning poet. His mastery of language allows him to wield words the same way a painter wields pigments.
Sunrise over the barn, old hound in slow sleep howl / never knew he mourns lousy neighbors and I know it all now / all roads lead to ruin so I lie back in my own heat / fresh bread and coffee smell like flesh burning in my sleep / My thoughts are darker than they’re deep.
Honestly, if it weren’t for the gorgeous guitar work, the lyric sheets for this album would be well-served being bound in a small, stylish, leather-covered edition.
The guitar work, though…it would be easy, given his strong writing style, to relegate the guitar to mere accompaniment. It would work, it would be effective, but his guitar work itself is so unique, so complex and yet so seemingly at ease, it’s really a second voice. In essence, every song is really a duet between the man and his instrument.
Noah made two appearances in Chattanooga in 2018. According to his latest tour schedule, it appears the closest he’ll come to the Scenic City in 2019 is a November gig in LaGrange, Georgia. That’s almost a three-hour haul from here, but it’d absolutely be worth the drive.
In the meantime, of course, there’s a wealth of material available online through the website noahsong.com, including a septenary of older albums (Wings is number eight,) concert footage, lyrics, and poetry.
Turn on, tune in, and discover why fans, critics, and peers revere the work Noah Zacharin, one of the greatest songwriters Canada has ever produced.