Thanksgiving

Boo Hewerdine has written countless gems of songs for the immaculate Eddi Reader. In turn she has co-composed tunes with him, used him as support on live outings and generally touted the man's prowess as an extraordinarily gifted songwriter. Thanksgiving is proof that Eddi Reader is right.

Hewerdine's quiet style and shyness in the live setting militate against the listener getting the full impact of his talent. But here you can take this album off to some very quiet place in your house or put on the headphones and bask in the stark beauty of lyrics like "And the loneliest sound of all/Is the sound of love through a stranger's wall/And when the laughter fades/When there are no more words/The silence breaks me most of all" ('Footsteps Fall').

The terrain of Thanksgiving, then, is heartbreak and loneliness. But Hewerdine never drowns these themes in whimpering self-pity. Rather, every song and each observation is the result of meticulous craft and reflection. Understatement is the key.

You don't come to something like Thanksgiving to be rocked until your ears fall off. Instead, Hewerdine's tunes almost silently insinuate themselves into your consciousness. They emerge and re-emerge after each listening like tiny illuminating shafts of light.

The title track best exemplifies this disc's strengths - simplicity combined with unerring aim for the core of the matter, delivered oh so gently. "Today may be thanksgiving/For me no bells will ring/And I miss you more than I thought I/Could miss any living thing." Enough said. A minor treasure. Go unearth it and have a good cry for yourself.