Jackie Leven - Shining Brother / Shining Sister - Review

Carter considers the album Leven's strongest since Night Lilies (1998), perhaps his best ever: Defending Ancient Springs and Creatures of Light and Darkness had contained only scattered classics. He singles out “My Philosophy”, “Another Man in the Old Arcade” (one of the best Leven songs), and the almost ten-minute “A Little Voice in Space” with a Mandelstam poem and David Thomas's reading of Rilke; the trumpet elegy before “Savannah Waltz” is played by the film composer Geoffrey Burgon. Praise too for Leven's liner notes and Deborah Greenwood's backing vocals.