Abigail Lapell – Anniversary & More Songs About Love: Album Review

John Barlass

11 months ago

Four time Canadian Folk Music Award winner Abigail Lapell revisits her 2024 triumph, Anniversary, and comes up with something very special indeed. How do you improve on perfection? Like this!

Release Date: 3rd May 2025

Label: Outside Music

Format: Digital

HOW TO IMPROVE ON PERFECTION?

It’s just about a year since Anniversary, the 2024 album from four-time Canadian Folk Award winner Abigail Lapell, slipped across the At The Barrier desk. Back then, we were thoroughly enchanted by Abigail’s 11-song collection, assembled in celebration of the notion of eternal love. And, if anything, that state of enchantment has intensified with the passage of time.

It came as something of a surprise, I have to admit, when news arrived that Abigail has already worked up a deluxe version of that excellent album. After all, we asked ourselves, how does one go about improving a product that’s pretty-near perfect to begin with? Well; it seems that Abigail Lapell and her co-conspirator, Tony Dekker of Ontario-based indie-folk band, Great Lake Swimmers, know the answer to THAT particular question…

OLD SONGS/NEW SONGS

Anniversary & More Songs About Love is that mooted deluxe album, in mortal form. The original Anniversary album is supplemented by eight new songs, six of them acoustic remakes of the best tracks from the original album, plus a couple of riveting cover versions of songs that you’re BOUND to know. And – you know what? It’s breathtaking.

Anniversary was recorded in the 200 year-old Church of St. Mark in Niagra-on-the-Lake (close to Abigail’s hometown of Toronto) and the church’s acoustics, plus the opportunity to use the in-house piano, harpsichord and organs, bestowed Anniversary with a sound that was immediate and mellow, intimate and rich. Those qualities are retained.

INSPIRED BY PERSONAL MILESTONES

In its original form, Anniversary (a word that Abigail defines as ‘ returning yearly’) tracked the revolving days, seasons and years to celebrate and complicate the notion of eternal love – growing old together. During the album’s conception, Abigail took inspiration from several personal milestones in her life, including turning 40, the fifteenth anniversary of her father’s death and recent weddings and births in her family and those are themes that apply equally to the new songs that she’s slotted into this extended collection.

A STUNNING COVER

I won’t take up too much space revisiting the tracks that appeared on the original cut of Anniversary; I’ve read through what I said at the time, and I’m pleased to confirm that my views stand firm. I’ll focus on the supplementary tracks this time around but, for completeness, you can read my review of the original Anniversary here.

And the first of those supplementary tracks is a corker! Listening to the passion and belief that Abigail puts into her cover of the Tame Impala anthem, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, you’d be excused for believing that it’s her own song. Abigail’s voice is crystal clear and her crunchy amplified guitar is the perfect accompaniment.

UNPLUGGED AND PARED-BACK

I’ve already described Abigail’s delivery of Anniversary Song – the opening track to the original album and to this deluxe collection – as “an all-out sensual assault.” Here, the acoustic version of the song stimulates the senses in an altogether different way – it’s so very gentle and intimate. And the intimacy is even more intense for the acoustic reading of Wait Up, perhaps the grittiest song on the original recording. Surprisingly, the song’s fierce opening couplet: “I was a cold-hearted bastard with a gunmetal grin; You were a natural disaster, rattling the door till I let you in” seems more at home in this one-to-one acoustic setting, and Tony Dekker’s harmony vocals and acoustic guitar round things off nicely. It’s a song that, in its stripped-back form, demonstrates precisely why Abigail Lapell keeps on winning those awards.

ET MAINTENANT – EN FRANCAIS, S’IL VOUS PLAIT…

Last year, Abigail told us that the lyrics to her country ballad, Blue Blaze, were inspired by the classic French love song, Plaisir A’amour and, to emphasise that connection, she’s included a devastating version of the French original here. This version of the song is slow and thoughtful and, such is the clarity of Abigail’s voice, that the song’s French lyrics will be immediately understandable, even to the non-Francophones amongst us. And, when the harmony vocals kick in for the final chorus, the effect is truly glorious.

And, sticking with the French language, Serpent À Sonnette is a translation of Rattlesnake, a crowd-pleasing favourite from the original recording. The Appalachian roots to the tune are still evident; Abigail’s light-hearted delivery gives the song the air of a playground game, and the intertwined guitars of Abigail and Tony need to be heard to be believed!

AN EXTRA DIMENSION

Described as: “A song for weddings and funerals,” Count Me In is a standout track on Anniversary. In its unplugged form it’s surely one of the best things I’ve heard all year. The guitar sound is rich and resonant and Abigail’s and Tony’s vocal harmonies would do credit to Simon and Garfunkel. Back in the early 1960s, Sylvia Dee’s lyrics to The End of the World were inspired by the death of her father. Perhaps, it’s Abigail’s experience of a similar bereavement that prompted her to include a version of that classic song here, and she does the song full, full justice. Her clear, forceful voice is accompanied by a single electric guitar and a few splashes of howling harmonica and the listener is left in no doubt: the lady means every single word.

Anniversary was, unquestionably, one of the finest albums to see daylight in 2024. It’s packed, end-to-end, with excellent songs and the sound quality and production is exemplary. The acoustic versions of the pick of those songs, included here on Anniversary & More Songs About Love, serve to emphasise the sheer quality of the originals, whilst often bringing an extra dimension into play. And that’s particularly the case for the acoustic take of Stars, the original album’s closing track. The message in lyrics like: “While you are beside me, dear, I’ll never sing alone” is happier and more meaningful than ever in the acoustic format, as Abigail and Tony pick their guitars and harmonise beautifully.

A GRANDE FINALE – AND DON’T FORGET THE TOUR!

An inspired bit of sequencing sees to it that Anniversary & More Songs About Love is rounded off by two strong tracks from the original album. Stars – featuring Great Lake Swimmers – is slotted in to follow the acoustic version of the same song, to stimulating effect, and the collection is rounded off with the electrifying Wait Up, a rocky highlight of Anniversary.

How do you improve upon perfection? Ask Abigail Lapell!

And, don’t forget… Abigail Lapell will be touring the UK and Europe in May 2025 to launch Anniversary & Other Songs About Love. What’s more she’ll be accompanied by Steph Cameron – fellow Canadian and another At The Barrier favourite. See the tour itinerary below: