Dancer With Bruised Knees

The songs on Kate and Anna McGarrigle's second album suffer only when compared to the impossible bounty achieved with their self-titled debut two years earlier. The performances, however, are every bit as charming, and the arrangements extend a wise, winsome balancing act between their angelic harmonies and the vulnerable, unvarnished feel of their solos, while the best songs achieve a similar poise in matching art song ambition to folk earthiness. Even early in their career, the McGarrigles were already wise beyond their years (not to mention their more conventional singer/songwriter peers), sustaining a wistfulness that has continued throughout their work. Dancer also finds them expanding their repertoire of French-language originals. --Sam Sutherland