[Alt-Pop]
Kate Nash
Made of Bricks
****
Kate Nash is already a sensation in her native England, and, with any justice, she’ll be one in the U.S. as well. The 20-year-old singer/songwriter’s wonderful debut Made of Bricks showcases her emerging vocal and lyrical talents.
Though she is often compared to Lily Allen because of her sassy, frank songs about boyfriends, her debut trumps Allen’s glossier, shallower first album Alright, Still by exploring relationship angst in greater detail. “You’ve got that look in your eye, when I’m telling a story and you find it boring,” she sings on “Foundations.” “You’ll go along with it, then drop it and humiliate me in front of our friends/Then I’ll use that voice that you find annoying and say something like, ‘Yeah, intelligent input, darling/Why don’t you just have another beer then?’”
Nash’s slick acoustic guitar and synthesizer-playing combine with a seemingly instinctual ability to tell multilayered stories, and the combination of radio-friendly tunes with complex lyricism is a winning one. Though songs like “Foundations” (a big hit in Britain), “Mouthwash,” “Pumpkin Soup” and “Shit Song” explore the difficulties of being a young, opinionated woman, they are all sustained by gorgeous melodies and easy hooks.
The album is not entirely perfect. Producer Paul Epworth bears responsibility for genre-jumping experimental clunkers on the album like the electroclash-accented “Play,” as well as weepy ballads like “Nicest Thing.” But Nash’s voice and storytelling ability manage to stand up in the face of these challenges. Even when she’s probing the dark corners of her young psyche, she makes it sound easy. –Ben Westhoff
[Indie Pop]
The Magnetic Fields
Distortion
*** 1/2
Like distortion itself, Distortion, the new album from Stephin Merritt’s Magnetic Fields, grates initially before smoothing into something strangely easy to digest over time. The 41-year-old New Yorker remains every bit the clever hookmaster of his youth, except that now, his pop nectar is enshrouded beneath layers of noise—a musical setting that will doubtlessly be as off-putting to some as it will be rewarding for others.
Mostly instrumental opener “Three-Way” sets the plot, bathing its roller-rink glee in buzzy feedback that’ll make you wonder if your speakers are busted. Next up: “California Girls,” a perfectly twisted pop ditty (“If they must grow up they marry dukes and earls/I hate California girls”) that happens to be set atop sounds a whirring fan might make. Then it’s exquisitely gloomy slow song “Old Fools,” which features Merritt’s ultra-bassy vocals dueling with a sheath of rumbling feedback. And on and on.
Ironically, the discord isn’t what ultimately keeps Distortion from succeeding in its quest to be distinctive and sensational; shockingly, a few of its melodies do that. “Mr. Mistletoe” feels a little too vaudeville. “Drive on, Driver” feels a lot too REO Speedwagon. And “Too Drunk to Dream” (“I gotta get too drunk to dream/Because I only dream of you”) will make you laugh—exactly once.
Still, the standouts—from the catchy and fun “Please Stop Dancing” and “The Nun’s Litany” to the deadly serious “I’ll Dream Alone”—are more than enough to offset the clunkers. For those willing to roll up their sleeves and wade through the cacophony, that is. –Spencer Patterson
[Bluegrass]
Rhonda Vincent
Good Thing Going
***
From the glamorous photos that have adorned the covers of her last few albums to the guest appearances from the likes of Keith Urban, bluegrass star Rhonda Vincent has spent years striking a balance between rural traditionalism and slick, modern sounds. Her latest release, Good Thing Going, once again demonstrates her ability to juggle multiple styles. Which is another way of saying it sounds pretty much like all her other recent work; as the title implies, Vincent isn’t really one for change.
That’s not necessarily a problem, since she can deliver the requisite old-fashioned barn-burners (“Hit Parade of Love,” “Who’s Cryin’ Baby”) and plaintive hymns (“I Will See You Again,” “The Water is Wide,” featuring the aforementioned Mr. Urban) with equal skill. And even a song like “I Gotta Start Somewhere,” essentially a contemporary country ballad (complete with drums, typically a bluegrass taboo), sounds elegant and tasteful in her capable hands.
Vincent’s five songwriting credits include the tender love song “I Give All My Love to You” and energetic closer “Bluegrass Saturday Night,” a tribute to the road life that proves that even if she’s doing the same old thing, she’s having a great time with it. –Josh Bell
[Indie Rock]
Tyler Ramsey
A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea
****
Although Tyler Ramsey is the new guitarist in indie band du jour Band of Horses, he’s already a respected solo artist and ax-slinger-for-hire in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. That acclaim should widen considerably with the release of Ramsey’s fantastic debut album, A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea.
Produced by Band of Horses bassist Bill Reynolds—Ramsey’s long-time friend—Sea is a haunting collection of indie-folk indebted to My Morning Jacket, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and (especially) Sun Kil Moon, the latest project of Red House Painters frontman Mark Kozelek. The latter influence is mainly due to Ramsey’s keening, yearning voice (which often channels Kozelek’s grave intonation) and his intricate guitar work, which ranges from plaintive acoustic plucking (the heartbeat-and-harmonica sprawl “A Long Dream”) to bar-blues boogie (instrumental “Chinese New Year”) and country-flecked twang (a gentle cover of “These Days”).
Not merely a showcase for Ramsey’s guitar skills, Sea succeeds because of its attention to detail. Faint brushed percussion, vibrant strings and melancholic fiddle add unexpected—and beautiful—flourishes to the album’s songs. In fact, these little pleasures give Sea an almost spring-like feel, making it a perfect complement to Band of Horses’ autumnal 2007 gem, Cease to Begin. –Annie Zaleski
[Standards]
Anne Murray
Duets: Friends & Legends
***
I’ll admit it: Anne Murray’s 34th studio album makes me sniffle. It’s partly a childhood thing: Anne rarely left my mom’s tape deck. Grade-school best friend Becky and I frequently performed her “Animal Crackers” on our recorders. Not least of all, there’s that tone: honey-golden, powerfully mature and, as Duets proves, surprisingly undiminished after four decades.
The hits-and-covers album comprises 17 reworked numbers, and there’s really not a misstep in the genre-skipping, estrogen-infused bunch. Martina McBride kicks it off with “Danny’s Song,” Dusty Springfield posthumously appears on “I Just Fall in Love Again,” Emmylou Harris lends her lilt to “Another Pot O’ Tea,” Nelly Furtado shakes up “Daydream Believer,” and that’s only the first four tracks. Carole King, Olivia Newton-John, k.d. lang, the Indigo Girls; even Amy Grant stops by for Midwest wedding-reception standby “Could I Have This Dance.” No “Just Another Woman in Love” or, horror of all horrors, There’s a Hippo in My Tub’s “Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” but there are fellow Canadian songstresses Shania Twain and Celine Dion (“You Needed Me” and a diva-ed out live version of “When I Fall in Love,” respectively).
Deep down I know it’s far too swoony and sappy to take seriously. But anyone shouted-out in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut must be doing something right. –Julie Seabaugh