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Based in Switzerland but raised in Boston, Nature, the mini-album follow-up to last year’s Chemical Reaction, is the first to feature her partner, go-to sideman Mike Bischof, who both co-produced, did the arrangements and plays guitar and bass while David Raven lays down the drums.

Featuring Aaron Till on fiddle and mandolin with Suzie Candell on harmonies, it opens with ‘Brown Eyed Man’, her answer to Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, a mid-tempo bounce love song to “the brown eyed man who married me saved me from my life going bad”. She even sings a line in German. A twang to the guitar and clicking percussion, ‘Let’s Be Loving’ is a reminder not to carry grudges (“friends have disappeared when fair weather went south”) because it’s too late to reconcile when you’re dead (“the blink of an eye is all it takes to make things right, to say goodbye, say I love you, kiss goodnight”).

The drums rattling in, the pace picks up on ‘Sweeter’, another breezy love song (“Long time honey you’re my lucky charm/You got my name tattooed on your arm/When I’m cold you’re my personal heater/We got a thing and it’s just getting sweeter”), here with a 60s country pop feel.

The longest and stand-out number is the six-minute slow swaying strummed ‘The Merrimack’, a folksy storysong narrative about the 2005 flooding of the Merrimack River in New Hampshire which saw roads and bridges wiped out, several deaths, and whole buildings destroyed, the tragedy recounted in the voice of Mary Gold who lost both her son and his step-father (“next day they were found with their arms around one another – in a brothers’ embrace/yeah they were found, dead – with their arms ‘round each other, clinging for life”), she still living by the river that took them and the mud that holds her family’s blood.

Damiano Della Torre on Hammond and Rhodes, the title track is a slow walking country soul that reminds that nature can heal as well as destroy (“the more I get outside in nature…the more my worries melt away …I realize it’s in my nature, to step into the light and play every day”), and, playing piano, is joined by Jersey Julie’s saxophone and Till’s viola on the closing R&B tinged swaggery Southern country ‘When It Rains’ which, with a bluesy guitar solo from Bischof, closes up with another song of love as she sings “I’m thinking of you in every kind of weather and I got the means of making things so much better/my touch is gold … and I’m here for you to hold… we’re stronger in this world together/so when the flames lick at your door, I’m wondering ‘what’s he waiting for?’”. Let her embrace you too.

“Miracle Girl” in 2008 en “Ghosts & Men” uit 2011 waren de twee platen die ons lieten kennismaken met de Amerikaanse zangeres en songschrijfster Beth Wimmer. Haar debuutplaat dateert echter al uit 2004 en verscheen op de markt onder de titel “Live Within Live Without”. Eind vorig jaar stuurde ze ons echter haar vierde album toe dat in Liechtenstein, Oostenrijk en Los Angeles werd opgenomen.

Co-producer van dienst voor dit na zes jaren van relatieve stilte verschenen album was Billy Watts, gitarist bij o.a. ‘Mojo Monkeys’, Jennifer Warnes en Eric Burdon. Hij speelt ook op akoestische, elektrische, lap steel- en basgitaar mee op de tien tracks die terug te vinden zijn op de nieuwe plaat “Bookmark”. Negen van deze liedjes zijn eigen composities van Beth Wimmer en de enige cover die een plaats op deze cd kreeg was bestemd voor de song “Starman”, een eerbetoon aan haar begin 2016 overleden muzikale voorbeeld David Bowie.

De andere instrumentalisten die bijdroegen aan de studio-opnamen zijn bassist Taras Prodaniuk en drummer David Raven, twee collega’s van Billy Watts bij ‘Mojo Monkeys’. Verder zijn er ook nog gastbijdragen van zangeres Suzie Candell voor harmony vocals, Rodrigo Aravena op basgitaar en Dänu Wisler als multi-instrumentalist op enkele tracks.

Beth Wimmer woont met haar echtgenoot en drie katten al een tijdje nabij Zürich in Zwitserland waar ze haar liedjes componeert en baseert op eigen ervaringen, maar ook op fantasie en empathie met de medemens. Dit album begint met de titeltrack “Bookmark”, een subtiel liefdesliedje dat u in een live uitvoering op bijgaande video kunt beluisteren. “Loosen My Grip” en “Louisiana” zijn daarna meer uptempo gebrachte folkrocksongs die allebei drijven op knappe stukjes gitaarmuziek.

In de liedjes “Mahogany Hawk” en “Mexico” kijkt de zangeres wat melancholisch en nostalgisch terug naar de periode die ze in Californië nabij de Mexicaanse grens in haar geboorteland Amerika heeft doorgebracht. “Pretty Good” is een complexloze countryrocker en in “Simplicity Of A Man” vertelt ze over een man die, na 52 jaar getrouwd te zijn geweest, aan het graf van zijn vrouw oprechte dank uitspreekt voor de liefde die hij van haar heeft mogen krijgen tijdens hun meer dan een halve eeuw samenleven.

De keuze voor “Starman” als uitstekende cover op het vierde album “Bookmark” was deze keer bij Beth Wimmer dus ingegeven door het heengaan van David Bowie, maar ook bij haar vorige albums was er ruimte voor een cover met “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” van Neil Young op haar tweede plaat en “Bad Moon Rising” van ‘Creedence Clearwater Revival’ in balladvorm op het derde album.

De twee laatste tracks op deze plaat zijn songs over de liefde in het leven van de zangeres zelf: “The Last Part” bezingt het ontbrekende stukje in haar leven dat werd opgevuld door haar geliefde en in “We Can Do This” wijst ze op de pure kracht die uitstraalt van de gemeenschappelijke dagelijkse strijd die ze samen met haar man voert voor een beter leven. “Bookmark” is alweer een van begin tot einde kwalitatief zeer hoogstaande plaat van deze sympathieke zangeres, die ons nu toch al voor de vierde keer aangenaam weet te verrassen met haar muzikale werk.

“Inspired by real events in her own life and her unlimited fantasy, on her fourth album ‘Bookmark’, the American (now Swiss) singer-songwriter Beth Wimmer has once again delivered nine own penned beauties and one terrific cover version of David Bowie’s classic song ‘Starman’.“ (valsam) – www.rootstime.be

Bookmark (2017), reviewed by Mike Davies at Folking.com / England.

Raised on America's east coast with her poet mother and folk-singing grandfather before moving to Los Angeles, Wimmer's been based in Switzerland for several years, although "Bookmark", her fourth album and the first in six years, was primarily recorded in Liechtenstein and Austria, co-produced by Billy Watts from the Mojo Monkeys who also provides guitar, and features bassists Taras Prodaniuk and Rodrigo Aravena, drummer David Raven, multi instrumentalist Dänu Wisler, and Suzie Candell with harmony vocals.

Stylistically, this is a relatively bluesy album, although it opens in dreamier shape with the title's reverie, Watts adding electric guitar and bass to Wimmer's acoustic on a celebration of a perfect relationship served up in musical metaphors. The blues kick in though on the uptempo 70s AM boogie rhythm of 'Loosen My Grip', Taras Prodaniuk laying down the bass lines on a number basically about getting loose, letting go of the bad and going with the groove that offers up the wisdom to "keep your eye on the sweet donut, not on the hole."

Likewise, even if the lyrics concern moving on and not crying years over a bad love, the lazing mid-tempo ballad 'Louisiana' also evokes thoughts of that same mellow rock era and artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, Wendy Waldman and Maria Muldaur.

There's a folksier, more acoustic air to 'Mahogany Hawk', an airy waltz through Laurel Canyon soundscapes with hints of Joni that, in its theme and nature imagery, also echoes the era's disdain for consumerism and commerciality and the desire to fly free of society like the lyrics' 'avian saint'.

Autobiographical notes sound on the Texicali coloured 'Mexico', Wisler providing dobro and Watts taking the acoustic solo on a suitably warm rolling rhythm and sway as Wimmer sings about moving from California to be with a man from Switzerland, but annually returning to Mexico to melt winter sorrows dancing in the sun.

Strumming acoustic with Watts sliding in the pedal steel, 'Pretty Good' sounds another anti-materialistic note on a song that celebrates those who try and perhaps fall short rather than those who succeed and lose touch, a countrified rolling rhythm backdropping the call to do your best at what you do and bring a glow to the vibe in your own neighborhood and backyard.

Breathily but powerfully sung and again in classic soulful AM mode with resonant guitar from Watts, 'Simplicity Of A Man' is a near six-minute poignant love song that, unusually in a world that can often have a cynical arch-feminist perspective on men, looks inside the soul and finds a tenderness within. It opens on the image of an elderly widower mourning his bride of 52 years, continuing with a young philosopher rendered speechless on the birth of his child before narrowing the focus to a more personal, intimate understanding of how the male of the species may not always articulate their love, but this doesn't mean they don't feel it.

The final stretch begins with the album's sole cover, Wimmer's voice soaring on a gently faithful take of Bowie's 'Starman' complete with la la chorus and handclaps finale  before heading into 'The Last Part', a slow waltz dreamy ballad love song that can be best summed up in the line from Jerry Maguire, "you complete me". "Bookmark" ends on another upbeat note with 'We Can Do This', an all acoustic percussion-free track featuring mandolin and lap steel that for some reason reminds me of Lesley Duncan's 'Love Song' about how, while there may be storms to weather and it may sometimes take the scenic route, love is always worth trying to hold together.

A bookmark is defined as something that enables you to return to or remember a place or a time with ease: this album will make you want to do both.

-Mike Davies

(English below)...

La chanteuse Beth Wimmer n’était pas forcément destinée à poser ses valises dans notre riante Ajoie. L’artiste est née en Californie et a très tôt aimé chanter: “J’ai découver la “pop music” ert la folk en écoutant la radio, nous raconte-t-elle. “Et de son côté, mon frère m’a fai dècouvrir le rock, particulièrement le rock britannique.” Très tôt en Californie, elle intègre des groupes de musique et apprend à jouer de la guitare. Finalement, elle décide de se lancer en solo pour écrire ses propres textes et chansons...

English...

Singer Beth Wimmer wasn’t necessarily destined to settle down in our charming Ajoie region. The artist was born in California (fact correction : the artist was born in New York) and developed a love for singing at a very young age: “I discovered pop music and folk by listening to the radio,” she tells us. “And my brother introduced me to rock, especially British rock.” Very early on in California, she joined bands and learned to play the guitar. Eventually, she decided to go solo to write her own lyrics and songs...