Album Review

Sarah Blasko – I Awake

• 8th Apr 2013

I Awake is Sarah Blasko’s fourth solo album and her first release since 2010’s excellent Seeker Lover Keeper, where she combined with fellow Australian singer-songwriters Holly Throsby and Sally Seltmann. This one, first available in her native country last year, is very much a Blasko album, with her gentle and emotional vocals backed by musical accompaniment from the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. The music though is restrained throughout, allowing her lovely voice space to shine.

Blasko recorded and produced this album herself, and the haunting orchestral backing combines well with her emotional and heartfelt lyrics to provide some dramatic and passionate songs. There is a vulnerability in her work, and an honesty to her composition that draws the listener in. The musical tone may be generally laid back and gentle, but there is a complexity to the emotions she describes so well. Written in solitude, the album tells of a woman’s journey towards finding herself again and becoming comfortable in her own skin.

The album opens with a burst of drums that accompany the first verse of the title track. A defiant tone is set from the start as Blasko defines her quest to make changes in her life. The eleven tracks that follow focus on aspects of this search, and while it would be wrong to describe this as a concept album, there is a clear connection between the tracks.

Highlights include Bury This, which has a lovely string intro before slow vocals echo over the instrumentation. The slightly more up tempo God-Fearing is closer to a pop song than anything else on the album and works well. The sparse Here sees Blasko in typically reflective mood as her high vocal delivery emphasises the importance of the present.

Fool is piano driven and tells of being trapped in a bad relationship, forced to follow another’s agenda. But Blasko finds a way to escape and the strength to go it alone. The closing track, Not Yet, echoes the opening drum beat before the piano takes over and a rich melody backs Blasko as she searches for faith in herself, while realising that her journey still has a way to go.

Overall, I Awake is a lovely album that has a steely core to its tender feel. The melodies are simple and the beautiful backing augments some exquisite vocal performances. Considerable work has to go into crafting such a deep and inward looking album, and the end result is a testament to Sarah Blasko’s talents as a writer and producer as well as to her obvious abilities as a singer.

Venue: I Awake
Support Band: Dramatico Entertainment