On her third solo effort,
Everything I Touch Runs Wild, the underrated singer/songwriter
Lori Carson offers her barest, most personal compositions yet. One reason for this direction was due in part to recording the entire album in her own apartment, as well as to
Carson producing it herself. By combining her soothing, gentle vocals with an acoustic backing, the results are often both irresistibly sweet and engaging. Her voice can be compared at times to
Sarah McLachlan's, especially on the album's opener, "Something's Got Me" (which is also present in an album-closing "original version"). Simplicity and economy are stressed throughout, with the instruments (piano, clean guitar, accordion, etc.) leaving plenty of room to be filled by
Carson's vocals, such as on the track "Make a Little Luck." The picture of a calm winter landscape is painted convincingly on "Snow Come Down," while "Fade" creates a feeling of melancholia. Included on initial pressings of
Everything I Touch Runs Wild is a bonus second disc of remixes, which contains radical electronic makeovers of "Something's Got Me" (three separate versions) and "I Saw the Light." ~ Greg Prato