Back in my suburban high school days the act of wearing Doc Martins was a statement of the wearer’s experience and readiness for street battle. By the time I got to university, Doc Martins had been adopted as the footwear de jour of self-proclaimed left-wing anarchist-socialist-communist-feminist rhetoricians; by the time when Natasha Stott-Despoja proudly showed her Parliamentary Docs to the world, Doc Martins had lost much of their original shock value.
women in docs aren’t making a statement any more than any other female folk duo is doing anything more than writing songs with lush melodies and captivating lyrics. And that, in distilled essence, is just what women in docs – aka Roz Pappalrado and Chanel Lucas – are doing with their first release in eight years. With the exception of a re-recording of Tin Roof (originally released on the duo’s debut EP), and a charming cover of Bob Dylan’s Wagon Wheel, Carousel is a collection of new and original material as fresh as a temperate morning breeze.
The harmonies are note-perfect, the melodies invigorating and the stories of travel (Carousel, Hard Way), climate (Raining On Me), urban reflection (Monday) and emotional progression (You Can’t Go Back) are infused with a literary sensibility. Maryanne is heart-felt tribute to a friend; Give Way Sign could be metaphor for so many things in life, most of which are probably unacknowledged by the self-professed busy modern being. Carousel is nice, pleasant and will probably make your day a whole lot more enjoyable – which certainly can’t be said for Doc Martins back in the day.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Carousel
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: TIDDAS, (early) JONI MITCHELL AND JUDIE SILL
In A Word: Folk
