This album is a statement of intent. In the space of its twelve songs , Sarah Balsko expresses a no holds barred determination to defy self doubt and resist any temptation to hold back.
She says "I wanted to go all the way with this record" and you can hear this is in the force of the delivery, the strength of the lyrical content and the scale of the arrangements.
It is her fourth album in total but only her second international release, the other two only came out in her native Australia.
Blasko is clearly not a woman who is willing to be tied to her roots. The bulk of the songs were conceived while staying in Brighton, England and they were recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, a studio favoured because it allows the possibility to capture an expansive sound similar to that of a live performance.
The songs are quite simple but the production values are most definitely not. On the majority of the tracks, she is backed by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra.
The pulsing drumbeat of the title track sets the strident mood as she sings "no-one knows just why we're here, embrace the dark and face the fear" and the song builds to a rousing finale.
The orchestral backing give a real impetus to songs like this and the equally assertive An Arrow but also tends to drown any sense of intimacy,
particularly in a delicate tune like Cast Your Net which expresses fears of uncertainty and procrastination ("what you're longing for is hard to find")
Her breathy, soulful voice is a mix of Cat Power and Nina Simone, and the seductive All Of Me and Fool are good examples of songs which tap into her vulnerable side yet still manage to state, in no uncertain terms, that she is weary of playing by a narrow set of rules. Another song is called God-Fearing but this is something she most certainly is not.
Ironically, given the large scale of the arrangements, it is a song which features just voice and piano that articulates Blasko's philosophy most powerfully. The lyrics and setting to An Oyster, A Pearl are admirably direct and unambiguous - "be who you are and give all you've got".
On the final track of this excellent album - Not Yet - the big production is back with a vengeance. Here she sings "I'm not ready for the test" but since she chose this song to conclude a performance at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney International Orchestra you have to put this down to false modesty.
I Awake is an album by a woman whose time is now and knows it.
