Sharing in the Spirit

With Sharing in the Spirit, singer-songwriter Ana Egge shares eight original songs plus covers of songs by Ted Hawkins and Sinéad O’Connor. Stylistically, the music ranges across country, folk and indie-pop territory while drilling down into tales of the human condition partly drawn from the composer’s dreams. The garage rock setting of the album opener, ‘Don’t You Sleep’, provides a contrasting showcase for Egge’s luminous, lithe voice in an expression of support for social and political change propelled by love and maintained by alertness. ‘Door Won’t Close’ starts out in pure country style with acoustic and electric guitars strung along by a gamboling lap steel, later joined by a sweetly bowed fiddle, which imparts a deceptively smooth path for a song about an abusive relationship. With bluesy resignation, Egge faces up to the consequences of her struggles with alcoholism while paying tribute to the enduring love that saved her in ‘Mission Bells Moan’. Beautiful harmony singing and guitar accompaniment courtesy of Michael ‘Squeaky’ Robinson elevate the bluegrass ballad ‘Where Berries Grow’ to heavenly heights. For a tribute to Sinéad O’Connor, Egge ends Sharing in the Spirit with a rendering of the late Irish singer-songwriter’s ‘Last Day of Our Acquaintance’ (from 1990’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got) with deeply moving solemnity.