Antje Duvekot – New Siberia (2012)

“The pain is built-in, but a lot of these songs are life-affirming,” observes Antje Duvekot of her third and latest album New Siberia, adding “musically I think I’m in the strongest place I’ve ever been.” The words “wiser”, “struggle” and “honesty” also emerge from Duvekot’s recent bio, terms that signify a healing process and what she refers to as her journey “from a darker, younger self to a better, older place.” Coming to terms with one’s own history figures in much great songwriting, the appraisal of one’s life and family, troubled times, personal reappraisals and the inventory of one’s own soul. Duvekot, a gifted lyricist with the ability to express the deepest feelings and sharpest observations with a finely honed, simple turn of a phrase, has delivered her most eloquent and starkly beautiful collection of songs yet. Duvekot’s “voice has a sound of innocence and naivete,” says folk legend Ellis Paul, “which makes razor-sharp insights into the human condition.” That observation rings with particularly painful truth on “Phoenix”, a song Duvekot directs towards her mother with clear-eyed, heartbreaking accuracy.