Baby Eagle — No Blues

Unbeknownst to me, a Baby Eagle is not only an infant bird of prey but also the colloquial moniker attached to a high-powered firearm. I'm not suggesting that Constantine Steve Lambke's nom de plume is derived from a loaded weapon, but it seems like a wonderful twist of irony because I couldn't think of more pacifying music than Lambke's country-inflected folk. To follow his eponymous debut, Lambke recorded with most of the now defunct Shotgun And Jaybird, along with Julie Doiron and Fred Squire. Even for a record titled No Blues, there certainly are a lot of songs with "blues" in the title — no less than eight of 12 tracks, in fact. Those blues are channelled through Lambke's uncommon talent for producing plodding folk vignettes that emphasize minimalist instrumentation and his heart-wrenching, restrained intonation. While it may not go off with a bang, it definitely leaves a lasting mark.

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