Album Review: Peggy Seeger, ‘Teleology’
Peggy Seeger’s final album Teleology traces the arc of a life lived to its fullest, probing the contours of love and hope, yearning for times long passed, and celebrating the enduring power of community and song. She’s joined on the album by her sons Calum—who produced the album—and Neill MacColl, her daughter-in-law, Kate St. John, bassist Ben Nicholls, and drummer Roy Dodd.
The album opens with “Sing About the Good Old Times,” a lilting sing-along protest anthem that rides along the shimmering strains of St. John’s accordion and the singers’ escalating harmonies. It’s joyous ring belies the poignant lyrics: “Those who work most are the least provided/Sing about these hard times/When will the good times roll?” Seeger’s tender, rolling piano chords flow under her vocals on her spare version of her late husband Ewan MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” a love song he wrote for Seeger. The spiraling rhythms, pattering tempo, and sparkling Dobro evoke the leisurely pace of life on “Slow,” while the cinematic “Driftwood,” featuring Calum on keyboards and Seeger’s crystalline vocals, mimic the ebb and flow of the ocean’s tides providing a mournful background for Seeger’s powerful indictment of an unjust immigration system where people are caught in the ebb and flow of systems and often cast off like driftwood. The sparse title track features Seeger alone with her piano as she traces the key elements in the story of her life. A swirling chorus of background vocals plays call and response with Seeger’s lead vocals on the somber anthem about homelessness “No Place Like Home.” The album closes with the haunting ode to time and its passage, “Apple Tree.”
The spacious sounds on Teleology capture the emotional resonance of every song, and with her final album Seeger gives us a glorious parting gift that is a tribute to her eloquent songwriting and compelling vocals.
###
Teleology is available HERE.
Resources
PeggySeeger.com
Farewell Tour Dates
Newsletter
Follow at
