Review: The Duhks - Fast Paced World

Posted on 9 October 2008 | No Comments

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Americana, Folk, Pop

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From the start of the soulful stomp of “Mighty Storm” and on through the rest of the album, you know that Fast Paced World ain’t typical. This, their third album form Sugar Hill Records, Winnipeg, Canada’s The Duhks combine folk, Worldbeat, Appalachian bluegrass, zydeco, R&B soul, and Celtic music into a hodge-podge tapestry of disparate influences. It is (however) the sultry vocals of new singer Sarah Dugas that really take center stage on Fast Paced World and (along with the super-slick production) keep the record from being much more than mediocre. Judging from the fiddlin’ and banjo pickin’ there’s no doubt that the musicians in The Duhks are supremely talented, it’s just that I don’t like this new pseudo-R&B soul sound of theirs; I like the old stuff better. Sure, Sarah Dugas can sing, but she (like so many other so-called soul singers) fails to distinguish herself from the crowd and her vocals just don’t mesh with the band’s strengths. There are moments of instrumental brilliance peeking through (such as the track below, “Ship High In Transit”), but not enough keep my attention.

MP3 | The Duhks – Ship High In Transit Fast Paced World