Nicole Reynolds

by Doug Wallen

Every singer/songwriter should be as playful as Nicole Reynolds, who resembles a giddy kid no matter what she’s singing about. This Arduous Alchemy, her newish follow-up to 2006’s 20-song Wolves Won’t Eat Us, opens with a pointed lyric— “Would you give me your lung if I needed a lung?”—and from there Reynolds keeps us and herself plenty busy with smartly subtle wordplay while seeming to tackle bigger and bigger topics.

There’s a quirky cuteness to her childlike voice, which could draw comparisons to Joanna Newsom, and it’s almost jarring to hear her describe sex on “Sooner or Later” (“We’ll roll around/ Make love until we’re dirty and our lips are sore”) and again on the tiptoed, cello-kissed “We Could Be Dancing” (“We could make love in the woods while the animals peer through the pine”). Reynolds can’t help but be adorable, even when tackling something as mundane as changing money abroad: “I’ve got $20/ In France that’s nine but I don’t mind.”

Still, she’s never once cloying, and she employs an agile backing band to keep things interesting over the course of an album. “In the Morning” borrows its melody from the Jackson Browne-penned classic “These Days,” religion comes up in “The Other Road” and “Call the Guard” unfolds as a pump-organ waltz. “When We Meet Again” is the grabbiest track, from its promissory title and breathy harmonies to an insistent strum, but the lively “Overcast” comes pretty darn close.

It’s deserving that Reynolds has been adopted by WXPN and the rest of Philly’s folk-loving contingent, not to mention her fair share of indie rockers. Her recent CD-release show single-handedly sold out the Tin Angel, and Saturday’s back-to-back appearances in blossoming Doylestown should be just as much of a treat.