Aging Disgracefully – Shatter the Mirror
Self Released
10 tracks/42 minutes
Aging Disgracefully are the eastern Canada Duo of Karen Pyra and Mike Elliott. All the songs are originals and Pyra handles the vocals while Elliott plays electric guitar and backs the vocals and sometimes offers a duet. An assosrtment of others join in on bass, drums and keys. Their blues rock style, songs and attitude pay homage to growing old in an industry that celebrates youth over age.
“Foggy Highway” was their first single and opens the album. This, as a single, was their initial release. It’s got a great groove and the guitar wails. Pyra moans out the vocals. “Show Me the Way” is next, a tune about getting set free from herself, slow and emotive with good keys added. “Shatter the Mirror” is a jumping tune with a cool vibe. Then it’s “Red Sky,” another down tempo duet piece about the red sky of morning giving warning to the bad coming.
“Designated Driver Blues” is a rollicking tune as Karen bemoans watched her friends on a night ut as she sips a cola as their DD. I liked the added piano. “Let’s Start a Blizzard” is next. Here the songs sings of what one persn can do in the face of adversity and become the catalyst for larger change. A little nice mandolin is added here. “Black Stockings” features sax and key in a heavy tune with a vocal duet. They sing about the effect of black stockings on their relationship.
“Don’t Know Who You Are” is another duet, here with the topic of a couple losing touch with each other. “Cheatin’” follows, even more somber in tone as they sing about heartbreak as both are not faithful. The final song is “Questions In The Middle Of The Night.” Here the topic for Karen is her brain keeping her up at night as she thinks of one thing after another that prevents a good nights sleep.
The songs are really interesting. I enjoyed the guitar work and added instruments. The vocals by both of them left me a little dry. They seemed over done and excessively dramatic, but maybe that’s just me. The duo blends blues and rock into an interesting mixture of music about life as aging musicians and adults in general.
