Brooks Williams is so many things that he defies category. He is an outstanding guitar player, well-versed in styles ranging from flat-picking and British finger-style to Hawaiian slack key and Bahamian calypso to some mean bottleneck slide; a gifted songwriter and passionate lyricist; a soulful singer who knows how to get under a song, pushing it up to its fullest realization. With Seven Sisters, Brooks continues on the path that he began walking on 1995’s acclaimed Knife Edge. Yet while Knife Edge traversed that path through dark glasses, Seven Sisters brings us into a sobering light. Creating an existential palette that is sonically stark yet substantial, unobscured by needless production tricks, Williams takes us along on his spiritual and physical journey. All the musical elements of Brooks Williams are in evidence here including the country-blues of "Nothing at All", the mournfully resigned "Hello Heartbreak", the mischievous guitar and electric violin drenched "Rich Tonight", the joyful folk/pop tune "Jane", the sophisticated, beautifully melodic "Winter Moon", and the metaphorical title track, a song celebrating renewal and reconnection.
