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Q MagazineElson's theatrical but appealing voice adds genuine drama to the darkly brooding Stolen Roses, while the title track is a handsome murder ballad. [Jul 2010, p.133]
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While The Ghost Who Walks occasionally feels a little long and scattered, it's still a beautifully made album that earns Elson a place among moody songstresses such as Neko Case, Amanda Palmer, Hope Sandoval, and Paula Frazer.
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Even during its less-memorable moments, this is an album that maintains its atmosphere, and Elson is an engaging narrator (although there's no trace of her Oldham roots to be heard).
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Elson leans toward both bluegrass and chamber pop--the fiddle-laced "Cruel Summer" is worlds away from the twee, jewelry-box twinkle of "100 Years From Now." Her twangy, echoing soprano recalls Jenny Lewis and Loretta Lynn, aided craftily by husband/producer Jack White.
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The backup flatters Ms. Elson's voice, which shows the wavering concentration of a promising amateur. Some phrases are focused and persuasive, with a girlish feistiness; others are shaky. The lyrics, too, have graceful moments alongside awkward ones.
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Each composition is fleshed out as well as it can be, the end result still a kind of Appalachian wallpaper music that after further inspection and subsequent listens, leaves the record sounding much more flimsy than urgent. What impression it leaves doesn't last.
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The Ghost Who Walks is by no means a poor album. There are lovely moments littered throughout and for the most part Elson is a convincing performer. Having said that, it's not an album that lives on in the memory, and the feeling that you've heard much of it before is hard to shake.
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As things stand, it too often feels like a watered-down version of what Jack White peddles.
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Elegance and maturity are welcome attributes, they also risk tempering something down to the realm of safeness. In the end, The Ghost Who Walks, for all its prettiness and grace, can be best described with an un-model-like term: average.
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On songs such as the Nancy Sinatraesque title track, the music is similarly overstylised. Oldham-born Elson sounds more at ease with country blues and murder ballads.
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I wouldn't go as far as saying that Elson's debut is a flight of fancy, but it just doesn't engage the listener in any meaningful manner. An engaging artist should be inviting you to step inside their bubble, they shouldn't really need you to stand outside and wait for the pop.