Cowboy Junkies One Soul Now. Release Date : June 8, 2004 Label: Latent Recordings/MapleMusic Rating: Andy doesn't dig rating stuff. Somehow, I’ve never known too much about the Cowboy Junkies, aside from the songs of theirs that were on the radio. That’s probably pretty blasphemous for me, being Canadian and all. They were always one of those bands that I always thought, “I really should…,” but I never actually did, like the Tragically Hip or Blue Rodeo, or a host of other definitively Canadian bands that have been around for a decade or two. Up until now, I never had a record by any of those bands in my house. I stuck to the Grapes of Wrath and after that, most of my ‘legacy’ bands are international. Oh that’s just awful. Anyhow, while my limited quantities of incoming Cowboy Junkies tunes always pleased me, I again state that I’m not terribly familiar with the entire catalogue, and as a result, this review will be fairly objective. Now that we’re set up… Listening over the ten tracks here, I found it overall to be pretty and quaint – no surprise there – but what I found a bit unexpected was how dark it all seems. I’d been thinking that I’d be imagining running happily through wheat fields in Saskatchewan while listening to it, but that really wasn’t the case at all. I instead pictured dark and gloomy small town bars, thick with cigarette smoke. Lonely boats on a cold lake. Just all sorts of dim, sorrowful, solitary things. Margo Timmins’ voice is extremely versatile, changing vague moods depending on the tempo of the song she’s singing. I think she’s far sexier than the world gives her credit for. She’s often overlooked when it comes to musical objects of desire, but that smoky, dusky voice she has is just so intriguingly dreamy. She sounds quietly fierce, like she has a deep passion about what she’s singing to you about, but refuses to, or is unable to, shout about it. Instead, her voice will snap here and there, or strain slightly at points. The voice is deep and ominous much of the time, but picks up here and there to make it feel like it’s not totally the end of the world. For some reason, I’m reminded of R.E.M. Anyhow, the downtrodden mood fits snuggly with the lyrical content for most of the disc. It stirs images of the hard-working, daily grind, tedious life in a farm town. There’s love in here too, but it turns bitter as the disc goes on. It’s quite the journey. You know what I’ve never been a big fan of? That dribbly church organ sound. This CD is full of it. It’s fitting for the style of music to be sure, but I just… agggh! I don’t know whay that bugs me so much but it does, and it’s almost inescapable here. Beyond that, I like this disc. Good to contemplate stuff to. Lyric of choice : From “Simon Keeper” : Irony, oh irony / you are a bitter fruit to eat / stripped of all your beauty / your flesh is none too sweet. Song of choice : First and title track, "One Soul Now." Even through that church organ, I like the feel of this song, how it goes from slow and low to high and quick, and back down again. Actually, I like the darkly triumphant feel of "Notes Falling Slow" as well. -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere Cowboy Junkies website Published : July 30, 2004.