Sarah Jane Scouten takes a handful of tracks from her most recent release; ‘Turned to Gold’ and alongside her new track, ‘Princess Patrica’s Canadian Light Infantry,’ to create a live EP that strips out polished Americana sound to focus on the honesty and complexity of its writer.
Sarah Jane Scouten – Transmutations EP
Live or acoustic records tend to be little more than a collection of an artist’s most recent tracks with either an older fan favourite or a cover song thrown in to help justify its price tag. Very rarely do artists give the same level of thought towards the songs they choose and the overall lyrical theming of a live record as they do with their studio releases.
“Transmutations by Canada-born, Scotland-based revival artist, Sarah Jane Scouten quickly establishes the tone of the record with ‘Little Band of Gold’ in which she recalls a lost love, elaborating in vivid detail every aspect of the relationship that is now “just a picture in a frame, to hold onto when you get old.” Despite its lack of chorus and repeating piano melody, it’s a track that permeates feelings of loss and regret, which in turn, draws you in as you either sympathise for Scouten, as the song’s protagonist or at least empathise with her as you are recall your own tales of heartbreak.
The following track, “My Heart Ain’t Broken” is similar in the sense that it forgoes a typical song structure, in favour of a string of verses broken up with a pleasant, fingerpicked guitar riff. The track’s short length, near spoken word vocal delivery as well as Scouten’s inspired comparisons of a broken heart to a broken-down car evokes comparison to late country, folk legends such as Blaze Foley, Townes Vans Zant and most importantly, John Prine who, Scouten gives a firm salute of honour on the infectiously bouncy “Rose and Carnation.”
It is evident throughout the EP that Scouten is a powerful songwriter, who can draw from her experiences and project them into songs that evoke an emotional response from the audience. Never is this better demonstrated than on the new track ‘Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry’. “God is it my purpose here on Earth?” is the immediate question posed by Scouten as she channels the mother of a young man whom she has no choice but to allow to become an “instrument of war”, all the while, working in the munitions factories to ensure “every German mother’s son” ponders the same question.
Lyrically, it seems like a sharp left turn, given how the songs leading up to this have drawn from personal experiences of love and loss. However, Scouten is the granddaughter of a distinguished World War II Royal Canadian Air Force Lancaster bomber pilot. It is through this connection that she drew her inspiration to write a song that is filled with compassion for the feelings of futility experienced by mothers who lost their sons to war and a reserved but ever so sharp anger towards society which actively encouraged boys to leave home to join the frontlines; “if your boys stay home, they’ll never live it down.”
‘It is this writer’s opinion that ‘PPCLI’ is the perfect sharp exclamation point that would mark the end of the EP. However, it is followed by ‘Wanderlust’ a classic-sounding Americana song that continues the themes of a life passed by littered with chances not taken. It’s engaging, light-hearted and easily fits with the rest of the track listing, but it does feel a bit jarring following on from the emotional intensity of ‘PPCLI.’
With Transmutations, Sarah Jane Scouten has delivered more than just a live record with stripped-down performances of her previous work but instead created an EP that emphasises her skills as a songwriter, performer and most of all as an artist.
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Words Kieran Stowell
