From NetRhythms (UK):
[...] It’s a lovely, uncluttered acoustic affair with Hutchinson’s warm, comforting and heartfelt alto adding early Janis Ian to previous Dar Williams comparisons. [...] she has a novelist’s descriptive eye, economically setting the scene before the song unfolds as a lament for the way modern technology has made it paradoxically harder to communicate on a personal level. Weaving a fine mesh of the personal and the political, her songs illuminate emotions and lives with a tender compassion and understanding. [...]
Read the entire review at:
http://netrhythms.com/reviews.html#meg
From PopMatters (UK):
It’s rare enough to find a musician with a naturally beautiful voice and a gift for lovely, nuanced lyricism, but it’s even rarer to be able to enjoy that musician without cluttered production, overdone instrumentation, backing vocals, or other décor that obscures the real beauty of an album. Meg Hutchinson’s The Living Side is that even rarer creature, presenting a singer-songwriter who lets both those features shine throughout the album. [...] Hutchinson’s voice is what is most immediately striking about The Living Side. Its genuine, natural sound and timbre is what’s first apparent on the opener, “Hard to Change”. [...] Hutchinson writes from a perspective of a woman in the world: neither political nor personal, but being forced to navigate both, navigate everything that comprises modern life. [...] To hear political content so nuanced is a refreshing change from the usual ham-fisted manner of many contemporary folk singers.
Read the entire review at:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/121128-meg-hutchinson-the-living-side
From Bob Edwards, XM Public Radio:
Meg got me with the first words of the first track titled Hard to Change: “Train whistling home in the dark—-Christmas lights up in the trailer park.” With those very spare words I have both audio and visual cues. She went on like that—-supplying multi-dimensional images in a song about class and economic justice. I didn’t need the second song to decide we were going to have her on the show, but after that first, I longed to hear them all. None of them disappointed me. My favorite is called Gatekeeper and it’s dedicated to Kevin Briggs, a motorcycle patrolman with the Marin County, California police department. Meg had read about Briggs in a 2003 New Yorker story about the Golden Gate Bridge as a final destination for people who want to end their lives. Briggs intervened when people looked like they were about to jump off the bridge. His technique was to ask two questions to which he already knew the answers. “How do you feel?” “What are your plans for tomorrow?” When told there no plans, Briggs would say, “Well let’s make some—and if they don’t work out, you can always come back here.” Briggs said he’d been successful all 200 times he’d done this. A guy like that deserves a song—and Gatekeeper is a gem.
Hear Bob Edwards' interview with Meg at:
http://www.bobedwardsradio.com or http://www.meghutchinson.com/aboutmeg
From Maverick Magazine (UK):
[...] Such is the breathy intimacy of Meg's vocals throughout, on one level it's simply enough to let the forty-five minutes of music on THE LIVING SIDE wash over you -- now there's a truly heavenly experience. Crack open her lyrics however and shiny gems sparkle before your eyes.
From Jeff Berger, No Depression
Meg Hutchinson’s moody, introspective and frequently beautiful eighth album is such an intimate affair that you may feel as if you’re eavesdropping when you listen in. Imagine a somewhat less commercial Norah Jones with a more understated production—or maybe a female Nick Drake. The music is as powerful as it is gentle and the contemplative lyrics—mostly personal, but some (if you listen carefully) about such things as bank bailouts and global warming—stay with you. As Hutchison writes on her web site, “Every day I’m struck by something that leaves me speechless. Usually it’s something very simple, very ordinary…What are the words that have never been used before to describe something we all know? That’s what I’m after.” Much more often than not, that’s also what she delivers. Don’t miss this one.
Read the entire review at:
http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/meg-hutchinsons-the-living
From Donald Teplyske, Fervor Coulee (Canada)
Meg Hutchinson writes like Joni Mitchell used to and Springsteen still does, and she sings like an Americana godsend. From the opening lines of this intense, lyrical album- “Train whistling home in the dark, Christmas lights up in the trailer park, And across the highway good Americans shop. There is a quiet dignity, yards tiny and clean, Small enough to just fall right through, The American dream”(“Hard to Change”)- the Boston-resident spins ballads of introspection and challenge. [...] The Living Side is simple, brilliant and elegant.
Read the entire review at:
http://fervorcoulee.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/meg-hutchinson-the-living-side
From Robert Reid at TheRecord.com, Metroland (Canada)
In this age of incessantly loud, obnoxious noise, Meg Hutchinson imparts an eloquent lesson — if you want to get someone’s attention, whisper.
It helps that the Boston singer/songwriter expresses herself in quietly engaging lyrics that penetrate listeners’ consciousness like barbed fish hooks.
Celebrated as a master of introspective ballads, Hutchinson expresses the universal through the particular, the political through the personal, the public through the private, the mundane through the poetic.
Elegantly and efficiently produced by Crit Harmon (Lori McKenna, Mary Gauthier, Martin Sexton),The Living Side features 11 meditations on the art of living gracefully in uncertain times. Harmon places Hutchinson’s pure, precise alto in a warm, subtle, tasteful musical setting.
Hutchinson has described the album as a conversation, as good a description as any, in which questions remain more important than answers.
Like an organic thing, The Living Side slowly grows with subsequent listenings.
Read the entire review at:
http://news.therecord.com/arts/NightLife/article/662116
From Fish Records (UK)
Young American singer/songwriter Meg’s debut album on Red House ‘Come Up Full’ marked her out as one of the strongest new artists on the contemporary folk scene, and since then she’s quickly and quietly gone on to be one of the standard bearers for this generation.
‘The Living Side’ sees her once again team up with producer Crit Harmon (Lori McKenna, Martin Sexton) to create an album of 11 songs that paint a striking picture on modern American life with stories and characters that will resonate the world over.
She’s is a fine writer of introspective songs with memorable lyrics and a real mastery of metaphor; she’s able to paint a vivid picture with poetic efficiency, and her sweet, down-to-earth alto is the perfect vehicle for the lyrics. Of all the young artists in the contemporary folk scene, Meg is the epitome of the New England singer/songwriter with songs that are instantly likeable, but that still ask questions and leave enough room in the songs for the listener to form their own opinion.
‘The Living Side’ is an album of real craft, her own guitar is backed by some atmospheric keyboards that add layers to occasional tracks and giving the disc a slightly more contemporary leaning than many pure acoustic guitar discs.
Highlights include the beautifully constructed and lyrically superb ‘Hard to Change’, the more introspective lyrics of ‘Full of Light’, through to the gentle sway and lilt of ‘Something Else’ that closes the album.
Wherever you look, this is an album full of craft, love and attention to the smallest detail and one that anyone who appreciates thoughtful and thought-provoking artists should have in their collection. Not to be missed.
Read the entire review at:
http://www.fishrecords.co.uk/reviews/thelivingside.htm
From Direct Current (USA):
We've always felt a little guilty about Meg Hutchinson's music. We probably should have been tugging on the sleeve of everyone we knew and telling them about what an incredible find each of her albums has been. But, with an artist like this, someone whose effortlessly beautiful songs can speak to the listener on a profoundly personal level, it's also tempting to just keep it to yourself. We were reminded of that fact today as we listened to Hutchinson's new album The Living Side, due February 9 via Red House, tempted to just close the door, turn the phone off, ignore the email and just, well, listen.
At 31 and with more than a decade's worth of touring and releases, Hutchinson will never be mistaken for some young "next big thing." But perhaps it is this adult perspective along with her undeniable skill as a songwriter that makes The Living Side so extraordinary. It is clear that on every level the Boston-based singer is performing at the top of her game: the melodies are subtle but rich, the airy voice tender but resilient, the lyrics knowing and provocative. And when Hutchinson sets the socio-political stage for pointed observations on the lost American Dream in the deceptively lovely "Hard To Change" or probes emotional will in the whispered intimacy of "Gatekeeper" you know you're in the presence of something truly special. Highly recommended.
Read the entire review at:
http://www.directcurrentmusic.com/music-news-new-music/2010/2/1/meg-hutchinson-the-living-side.html
From Zisuyan (China):
Reaching a new level of brilliance with her song craft, the eleven songs on the record are a moody mix of acoustic folk gems that explore this time of challenge and change. Atmospheric keyboards lay behind Meg's lush vocals giving a subtle power to her refined melodies. From the reflective mood of "Being Happy," the haunting harmonies of "Hopeful Things," and the carefree sway of the album's closer "Something Else" The Living Side is a contemplative record that plays out like a quiet conversation, leaving room for questions and space for the listener to answer. ... Once again teaming up with producer Crit Harmon, Meg's vocals are front and center, augmented by a moody wurlitzer and tasteful guitars that give pause for her intimate lyrics to resonate. The Living Side is a deeply layered collection of songs with a caliber of musicianship that proves she is one of the most important voices of folk music's next generation. Each tune is written, recorded and arranged with the kind of meticulous artistic eye you'd expect from great artists... The Living Side is a hypnotic musical journey that takes on new emotional meaning with every listen...
Read the entire review at:
http://zisuyan.blogbus.com/logs/58296251.html
