May Erlewine - Tiny Beautiful Things

by Kevin Wierzbicki

This album has love as its theme, and for all the rewards that love brings it is sometimes a convoluted road that gets you there. Erlewine begins Tiny Beautiful Things with "Easy," a deceptively-titled song about the mental anguish that pursuing love or wondering about where love went wrong can bring, with lyrics full of self-doubt and disappointment; "All the things that I wanted/All the things I didn't get..." In other words, not easy. Erlewine has a delicate voice that lends to the authenticity of songs about getting hurt, and just about everyone can relate to the exceptionally sad "Worlds Apart" where May remembers an absent lover as she sings "I wish I could turn back the clocks to the times that I'm missing." The title cut mostly pushes aside love's miseries; instead it quietly revels in what love is made of, tiny beautiful things. Listeners who are in one of love's blue funks have a chance to commiserate here; others can merely enjoy Erlewine's gentle and lovely voice.

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