Gregory and the Hawk Moenie and Kitchi by: Justin Pearsall Mon:29-Sep-08 Label: Fat Cat Year: 2008 WB rating 70 out of 100

On the surface, Gregory + The Hawk (GATH) occupies similar ground to that of many of the female singer-songwriter contemporaries. The voice of the band’s leader, Meredith Godreau, is equally capable of evoking the yearning of a Sarah Blasko, the sleepy folk feel of Julia Stone or even the girl pop leanings of Lisa Loeb, the band more than ably adapting to her stylistic whims.

Such observations probably displease Godreau greatly. Conceived in 2003, GATH was largely created to minimise perceptions of her music as simply another in the long line of female singer-songwriters. And while the band and their singer sometimes lean towards eccentric arrangements and grand moments, the best GATH can achieve is a fifty-fifty balance of female-fronted folk countering flashes of haunting ambience and powerful crescendos.

While the album’s embellishments are mostly purposeful, the best uses of chaos and ornamentation (see Joanna Newsom Y’s, or Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs) are integral to the music, something that Moenie and Kitchi never captures. Still, this side of the band is important to the record’s construction and songs such as ‘Stonewall, Stone Fence’, with its swelling climax, and the Blonde Redhead-esque ‘Voice Like a Bell’ add variety to the album – a quality that many of the more successful female folk records of recent times have lacked.

Godreau’s natural talent is in effortless pretty melodies. The fragile ‘Doubtful’ and ‘Grey Weather’ are moments of pure pop-folk that avoid a sickly sweet quality by quality instrumentation – including a standout performance by the band’s drummer. Album opener, and best moment, ‘Oats We Sow’ combines Godreau’s sweeping vocal with fingerpicked guitar and understated strings. As an individual track it is the strongest mesh of plain pop structure and wider instrumental ambition, the interplay of strings and the song’s airy rhythm sweetly matching the palliative quality of Godreau’s voice.

Sleepy folk or ambience and eccentricity? It’s a distinction that Moenie and Kitchi never resolves. Wisely, this middle ground affords the album a measure of credibility and diversity, traits that grant the album a longer lifespan. However, for GATH to advance from the aforementioned lineage of Loeb, Blasko or Stone, the band must continue to develop their own individual sound. The strength of Moenie and Kitchi suggests that this is entirely probable.

Already with this album, the band have delivered a quality release; one that will serve fans of the aforementioned contemporaries well with its charm and measured delivery.