The news is so depressing these days that often it's hard to feel any sense of hope and it's all too easy to feel powerless as the powers that be continue to put profit before people. The Occupy Movement against social and economic inequality may not have all the answers but they are most certainly asking the right questions.
The core of this album is inspired the recent wave no-global gatherings and draws upon the energy and optimism inherit in these protests. It is dedicated "to all the people who rise up to speak out and grow tangible. empowered, equitable, loving ways of people together".
Chvostek plays guitar, mandolin, violin, tuba and casseroles(!) and is backed by an ensemble of talented guest musician's and a people's chorus" to create a rousing folk/country mood that also taps into her Slovak roots.
The momentum and carnivalesque spirit of the opening track The End of the Road expresses the movement as a kind of awaking of consciousness that cannot be suppressed :You can't beat down the truth of it with blows, the seeds just fly, catch the wind and grow and grow".
This is followed by G20 which chronicles events in Toronto in June 2010 where the state brutality was manifest in the excessive police counter measures set up to defend the "corporate regime".
The imagery and spirit of G20 echoes that of a 1970s Chilean anthem popularised by Inti-Illimani which struck a chord with the mass opposition to General Pinochet's military dictatorship. Both songs are built around the rallying cry: "El peublo unido, jamás será vencido! (The people united will never be defeated)"
The title track is another song with an overtly political message - a call to arms in defence of an abandoned meadow in Montreal's Mile End that had become a public gathering place "This place was never anyone's to buy, never anyone's to sell".
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In a slightly different, though not unconnected vein, Do You Think You're Right was written in response to the documentary film, Jesus Camp, in which children are seen being trained to be part of an 'army of God'. This features backing vocals from fellow Canadian and kindred spirit Bruce Cockburn who can also be heard on the track All Have Some.
The activist dimensions to most of the songs means that the quirky In Toronto I Get More Hugs, In Montreal I Get More Kisses sounds completely out of place, as does the Patsy Cline-esque The Will of How and a beautiful song about Hartland Quay in UK's North Devon.
Since, this album was conceived as an agitprop record it should, it my view, have maintained this theme on all the tracks.
More in tune with the spirit of love and resilience, Chvostek closes the album with covers of two songs by Lou Reed and Peter Tosh, the sultry Some Kinda Love and the strident Equal Rights.
The latter's insistent message "I don't want no peace - I want equal rights and justice" becomes a kind of mantra that you can imagine being chanted around real or imaginary campfires.
It ends the marvellous album on a high and makes you want to hear the whole thing all over again and then take to the streets.
Website of the Occupy Movement
Annabelle Chvostek's website
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