Second Sight
SALON: Sharps & Flats
February 5, 1998
By Dawn Eden

The second solo album by former Dream Academy member/Van Morrison side woman Kate St. John, "Second Sight," is an unexpected reminder of how, once upon a time, musicians took great pains to disguise all the work they put into their albums. Listening to such intimate classics as Julie London's "Julie Is Her Name" or the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds," you don't really register the musicianship, even though it's there -- instead, you get an intuition, a groove. It insinuates itself in your psyche, effortlessly convincing you to be a passenger on its sentimental journey.

While St. John's languid vocals will strike a chord with Julie London fans, her closest musical parallel is one little known to Americans; Françoise Hardy, France's multitalented "Yeh Yeh Girl" of the 1960s. St. John is an avowed Hardy fan, and it shows in her vocal delivery, an unusual blend of childlike innocence and womanly confidence. Moreover, she shares Hardy's gift for melody, crafting songs that use the traditional pop structure but convey a much wider range of emotions that the average three-minute wonder.

Listening to "Second Sight," the first thing you notice is the absence of synthesizers. The influence of New Age music and musicians' desire to hold down studio costs make it rare indeed to hear a delicate, dreamy album that isn't drenched in electronic soundscapes. While St. John's decision to use real strings and other instruments must have been expensive, her own talent no doubt saved her label a lot of session fees: The CD's booklet credits her on saxophone, oboe, accordion, English horn and piano.

Like all great chanteuses, St. John is a master of the torch song. On tracks like the leadoff cut, "Don't They Know You've Gone," her voice captures the wistfulness of one who knows her lover will never return. The combination of understated vocals and devastated lyrics is jarring but effective -- like Nico doing Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World" or Nina Simone doing Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me."

The album does have its lighter moments, like a cover of the French standard "J'Attendrai" on which co-producer and Bona Fide French Person Joseph Racaille plays Serge Gainsbourg to St. John's Jane Birkin. But even the more upbeat songs have a wistful edge, and there's clearly real pain in St. John's voice and lyrics. But what carries her above the ranks of introspective Joni Mitchell wannabes is her focus on self-reliance rather than self-pity. Avoiding the trappings of anger and rebellion common to modern feminist singers, she emerges from "Second Sight" as an intelligent, three-dimensional human being, one whose identity goes beyond her love relationships. "Don't rely on the pain of love's open wounds to bring meaning to your life," she wisely advises in "My Lonely Love."

Kate St. John's goal may not be the same as Brian Wilson's was with "Pet Sounds," i.e., to create music that would heal. Still, breakup survivors will probably find "Second Sight" to be a soothing topical ointment for their emotional scars.

Dawn Eden is a regular contributor to Salon.