Noah Zacharin

Points of Light

 Self-released

Noah Zacharin is a Canadian singer-songwriter and fingerstyle guitarist who delivers his ninth album with Points of Light.

Although this is mostly a quiet, acoustic based folk album, there are elements of blues and rock as this adept guitarist exhibits few boundaries. At times he is completely mesmerizing in that same ilk of John Fahey, Kelly Joe Phelps, and Chris Smither, to provide a few reference points. His reputable talent is partly reflected in the esteemed guests that grace the album from string wizard Kevin Breit to avant guitarist Marc Ribot (who plays ukelele here). Zacharin, who plays acoustic, archtop, and resophonic guitars fronts a core trio of bassist Russ Boswell and drummer Gary Craig. The other guests on select tracks are keyboardists Denis Keldie, pedal steel player Burke Carroll, harmonicist Roly Platt, trumpeter Kevin Turcotte, and string arrangements form Drew Jurecka. No two tracks feature the same instrumentation as Zacharin ranges from solo to quartet, quintet, and sextet configurations. Zacharin is also a published poet, so his lyrics are clearly both inspiring and often provocative.  Some have compared this part of his artistry to Gordon Lightfoot and Nick Drake.

The album opens with “Ten Tons of Road,” a solo acoustic love song, displaying his deft, articulate fingerpicking and some interesting imagery packed into the lyrics such as “I keep a couple of pieces of gravel in the heel of my left shoe/they remind me as I travel of each step I took away from you.”  “17 Minute” with his rhythm mates and the blend of Keldie’s B3 and Carroll’s pedal steel, is one of the most intriguing train songs you’ll hear, with the protagonist reminiscing about a lost love as the train passes by every 17 minutes.  “Bed of Nails” features Kevin Breit and Marc Ribot in a song with an unlikely chord progression and scintillating picking. Zacharin waxes philosophical of the challenge of being human, immediately drawing in the listener with the opening “he got a face like a catcher’s mitt.” Yet, as strong as the picking is, it’s the blend of Breit’s baritone guitar and Boswell’s bass line that shine through prominently.

The slowly strummed chords, resonating notes, and deliberate, evocative lyrics of “So Much Work to Be Done,” another solo piece, pay tribute to the late Guy Clark as Zacharin references being alone, having written the song in his off-grid cabin.  The focal point of the album is “Red Red Bird,” a standout lilting love song from his catalog and staple of his live shows, finally getting the proper recording treatment complete with Keldie, Breit (mandocello) and Carroll aboard.  The musicians envelop the swaying melody gorgeously as Zacharin sings “my heart is a red red bird/Soars above the dust and dirt/sings a song you never heard/ my heart is a red red bird.” It has a similar infectious draw as the oft covered “Killing the Blues,” written by Rowland Salley but done by folks ranging from Chris Smither to John Prine to Shawn Colvin to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss to name a few.

Others worthy of mention are the upbeat bluesy, harmonica infused “What Have I Got to Show for It,” the old timey blues treatment rendered in “Lester Brown,” imbued with Turcotte’s trumpet; and a bit of Hank Sr.’s country swagger in “Done Gone Gone.” Zacharin unearths a song that he discarded 15 years ago, “Been a Long Time,” as the pensive, epic closer, with Jurecka’s string arrangements giving it the rare orchestral quality not heard in the other ten songs. He’s struggling for a sliver of hope, finding it finally in the closing verse “…and a little breeze says there’s room for me in the wind out there…” after some opening verses that ring bleakly – “I set her adrift/she got strong oars/I got trajectory of a sinking stone/ and the mud is thick/no one gonna haul me up and warm these bones…”

 This is an album made for repeated listens. One can marvel at Zacharin’s guitar stylings and the next time through immerse oneself in his imagery filled lyrics. Fortunately, he’s included them in the jacket. Points of Light should by all accounts, certainly this writer’s, emerge as one of this year’s strongest singer-songwriter albums.

• Jim Hynes

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