'The Swing House Session: Pearl Live & Acoustic' is album number two from Pearl Aday. As a follow up to 2010's highly acclaimed 'Little Immaculate White Fox' this collection of ten tracks are live (in the studio) renditions of many of the songs that first appeared on that debut but it's not just an acoustic carbon copy though as there are a few striking differences.

For one the rousing 'Broken White' is disappointingly absent from this collection. 'Broken White' is a personal favourite of mine from the debut, possibly the strongest track on that album, and it's a shame an acoustically charged version couldn't be included here. 'The Swing House Session' was recorded in just one day though so I guess there just wasn't enough time to transform every song into a new acoustic creation, but it's a shame none the less.

Another change here is that 'Nutbush City Limits' loses its place to the far more laid back tune 'Angel Of Montgomery', a cover of the country classic originally by John Prine. In 'Angel...' Pearl captures the essence of the forlorn character of the piece with dramatic effect. Even though as a listener you're less than five minutes into the album you feel like you've been listening for a heartbroken lifetime of missed opportunities. That's what is so magical about a song like 'Angel Of Montgomery' and its country soul is captured beautifully and you're wrapped firmly around Pearl's little finger as she pulls you gently into the second track, the delicately tender '...White Fox' closer, 'Anything'.

The album's opening two tracks set a tone that continues throughout and sees the majority of 'Swing House...' channeled into mostly country sounding territory which brings fresh life to the '...White Fox' tracks. Whereas a lot of the debut was straight out metaphorical balls to the wall rock, albeit with a bit of Motown groove thrown in here and there, 'The Swing House Session' prefers instead to break the mould and pushes the debut's songs into a completely different and exciting musical direction rather than having them sound like straight forward "unplugged" versions. This approach makes '...Swing House' the perfect companion piece to run alongside the debut rather than follow it. Imagine it more as a bonus disc to keep with '...White Fox' rather than a fully fledged sophomore album. I say imagine as 'Swing House...' is sadly only available as a download for the immediate future.

One of the rockier numbers to really get those steel strings vibrating is 'Check Out Charlie' and its sultry shaky strut leads nicely into the equally groove laden 'Lovepyre'. Pearl's voice brings a camp fire warmth to the fully rounded sound of 'Swing House...' making it an atmospheric, enchanting and enthralling release that encapsulates an ambience of mellow soulfulness one minute in 'My Heart Isn't In It' and 'Mama' before seamlessly drifting into the smoky haze of saloon rock with 'Rock Child' and 'Whore' the next. Overall 'The Swing House Session' shows the confidence and capability that resides in spades within the ranks of her accompanying musicians but more importantly within Pearl herself.

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