Getting old can either make you wiser or more jaded. It's all relative really.
Annie Keating says "Being truly open to feel, change, inspire and be inspired is easy when you're 18 or 25; not as simple as the years go by", suggesting that summoning up the energy to make her seventh album was a bit of a struggle.
Personally, I'm not convinced that 18-25 year olds are necessarily so open to change. Having more youthful spirit does not always bring a higher level of inspiration.
In any event, Keating sounds like she's ageing gracefully enough on a gentle, easy going collection of country-pop tunes where she adopts a philosophical, nostalgia-tinged stance on the bitter sweet nature of love's coming and goings.
The album is named after her first love, a Trick Star bicycle she got at the same time as her first guitar. The up-tempo title track with slide guitar and organ is the closest to rock'n'roll she gets.
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On the whole, the simple, laid back, and fairly bland, arrangements give a mellow feel to the thirteen tunes that were mostly recorded live in Brooklyn over just one weekend. A youth chorus help bring a joyful and hymnal sign off on the final track - Phoenix.
Despite the fact that Annie Keating is now entering her mature years, she still has a song in her heart and on Lucky enthuses "today I'm buzzing like a Springtime bee" like a teenager in love.
Like I said, age is relative.
Annie Keating's website
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