Today's Providence Journal features a review of the Canadian group The Duhks, whom we like to believe we discovered. In the vernacular of the day, they were "awesome" when they performed at the Narrows. The review was actually done by Martin Bandyke of the Detroit Free Press, not local Projo staff.
The Duhks -- "The Duhks" (Sugar Hill) ***
This band of twentysomethings out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, has a youthful attitude that breathes new life into traditional folk tunes, producing acoustic music with contemporary energy and a punk-rock edge.
Led by the fiery-voiced, tattooed lead singer Jessica Havey and fiddle player Tania Elizabeth, the Duhks (pronounced like the waterfowl) show any number of influences on their second album, including Irish, French-Canadian, gospel and Appalachian music. For the most part, the group handles more recently written songs as well as it does the traditional ones, as on "Mists of Down Below," penned by the young Canadian Dan Frechette. A strong acoustic guitar riff by Jordan McConnell moves into an evocative tale of migration told from the viewpoint of, yes, a duck. It may sound corny, but it's disarmingly beautiful.
Less effective are lightweight versions of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" and Sting's "Love Is the Seventh Wave." These are minor missteps on an album that is otherwise impressive.
By Martin Bandyke, Free Press special writer
Nice job, Martin! Congrats to our friends The Duhks!
Submitted by Steve the Emcee who hopes Patrick the Booking Guy brings back The Duhks in two shakes of a duck's tail.
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