Where the land meets the Sky

Kathleen Haskard’s Where The land Reaches The Sky is going to be an album you’ll either love or hate, no doubt about it. I think I’m one of those fence sitters that does both. 

 

The album is a potpourri of styles that all coincide in a certain relation to one another. You’ve got the Americana feel, the jazz vibe, a Latin vibe, and a folk stance that all come together in an awkward sort of way. One minute you think you’ve stumbled upon a moody jazz gem with Haskard’s voice running the gamut of highs and lows with a sultry tinge, albeit backed by an odd assortment of musical pathways, to a country-ish tune that’s more CMT then PBS. 

 

My first go with the album kept me guessing all the way to the end. When Haskard breaks out into Spanish I think I was scratching my head before I even knew it. Coming from a musical background where I have listened to pretty much everything under the sun I knew well enough to respect the range in which Haskard and fellow collaborator Chuck Prophet decided to travel in this space of 10 songs, but I wasn’t so sure there was wiggle room for my comfort zone and their change up techniques. 

 

It’s far from a bad album, I think it’s just the pacing that’s going to test people. Best thing to do would be to put it on rotation for a few days and come to the conclusion that the pacing is a bit off for your first few goes, but once you respect the individuality of each track your going to find different kinds of interests there.