Album Review: Kasey Chambers - Dragonfly

Following last year's surprise EP release Ain't No Little Girl, two-disc release Dragonfly heralds Kasey Chambers' new era.

Written and released after some big personal changes, including vocal surgery, her already wonderfully distinctive sound has transitioned again. Single Ain't No Little Girl is gratifyingly dramatic, rattling with a huskiness that mixes Sia and Martha Wainwright, all the while supported in its rises and falls by magnificently sobbing keys. Actually, if Nick Cave had a singing sister this is probably how she'd sound. It should also be noted that the song is just as strong in its lower-key "FM Lounge Version" at the end of the disc.

All of this is not to say that country has left the building, though — a more traditional sound returns in Golden Rails (with a gospel twinge for good measure) and the gorgeous, tight harmonies of Jonestown, the rumbling of Dragonfly and sliding melancholy of Annabelle. The title track's repeated chorus, "There ain't nobody else but you," is proper old-school, sing-along stuff. However, there's also some great hybrids; Pompeii is firmly on the folk side of country, rattling around with a banjo support and sweet, often sly, lyrics. Duets with Paul Kelly, Keith Urban, Harry Hookey, Vika & Linda Bull and Grizzlee Train also remind of Chambers' influence and diversity — a generous collaborator as well as a more than self-sufficient one-woman show.