Kim Beggs
Beauty and Breaking
Kim Beggs

www.kimbeggs.com
 

I spend a lot of time listening to singer-songwriters, and have become a bit tired of the usual stream-of-consciousness writing I hear so much. “This thing happened, then this thing happened and I felt this way, then I felt that way” is a common song structure these days. So it’s hugely refreshing to hear not only interesting and engaging lyrics, but also beautifully crafted songs. Songs that have a real shape and a feel to them, an interesting and innovative structure. Canadian Yukon singer-songwriter Kim Beggs delivers these kind of songs in her new album, beauty and breaking. Beyond the lyrics, her songs are so well built that they’re able to stand up against much better-known songwriters. “Not Only, Only From the Whiskey” has a great flow based around an unusual arrangement of lyrics, and “Not A Mermaid Song” is almost a folk-pop song, but with a chorus that turns so beautifully on a minor chord that it left me a bit weak in the knees. I could list off some genres that Kim Beggs draws from, and I guess in a way this is classic Canadiana (btw the backing musicians on this record are a who’s-who of awesome Canadian roots musicians), but really the point is her rich and subtle songcrafting. It’s the kind of craft that other songwriters would do well to study carefully.

— Devon Leger