Julie Doiron continued to find her musical voice on
Heart and Crime, her simplest and most bare-bones effort to date. The subdued mood and lack of fuzz-pedals finally set
Doiron on a path apart from her past work in the band
Eric's Trip. While her former band often experimented with simple and quiet harmonies on some tracks, the band was defined by their blistering pop sound.
Doiron's soft singer/songwriter approach this time around finds her calling upon musician friends to add a wealth of instruments to the recordings, including cymbals, shaker, harmonica, trumpet, and keyboards. The disc followed her collaboration with Canadian band
Wooden Stars. That collaboration obviously led to
Doiron experimenting with more sophisticated sounds. On "Shivers + Crickets" and "All Their Broken Hearts," her slightly-above-hushed vocals set an almost frozen-in-time pace to the album. The songs are excessively personal, with
Doiron narrating tales of life. Themes include self-doubt, regret, and thoughtful deliberation. The outdoor sounds on "I Broke His Heart" blend with
Doiron's voice to create an earthy and startlingly enchanting track. Only four tracks on
Heart and Crime are free of guest musicians, and
Doiron saves those completely solo songs for the end of the album. The end of the disc serves as a frame of some of the most personal tracks of the disc. The solitary nature of these songs are similar to
Cat Power in their emotional impact, if not for their tones. While
Chan Marshall's vocals often stretch to add emphasis,
Doiron chooses to emphasize the emotional overtones of songs with vocal tenderness.
Doiron recorded
Heart and Crime with producer
Dale Morningstar in Toronto. ~ Stephen Cramer