Wake Up Weary & Sleepy! The Foxes Are In Town!

Sleepy Eyed Fox strike a chord at the core of all that music wants to be and could be and never quite achieves unless we’re willing to believe. Five folks (three of them siblings) and eleven songs are suddenly all that we need.

Dropped from the heavens in a gesture of apparent effortlessness yet obviously sweaty effort, Weary Hearts wakes tired sleepers so sick of another generation of great musicians going down the dark alley that their ancestors warned them about. Dropped onto disc at a studio near Nashville in a folksy, timeless, and timely context that owns what it owes to Everybodyfields, Avett Brothers, The Civil Wars, or Mumford and Sons, this foxy serenade seeps into your sleep until you can’t help but humming along.

Of course, rock n roll was never innocent and always chases its innocence. Every once in a while, as if the hated headlines never existed, a band emerges from the earth and the ether to restore our faith. Perhaps pop music isn’t all ego and regret after all, perhaps we can forget for the length of an album the steady parade of diva moments and overdoses, of checking into rehab and refusing rehab for the grave.

Every once in a while, the choir kicks up Tennessee dust and shows up early and eager, a humble crew of gorgeous and unpretentious twenty-somethings with a backpack full of songs burning genuine joy into your guts via your ears. With roots in the great ‘family band’-that-learned-how-to-play-at-church tradition, Sleepy Eyed Fox travel lightly on the road to success, with musicality a fuel stronger than any hype could ever be.

Sleepy Eyed Fox sing songs of singularly prescient Appalachian pop, of pleasing your partner and praising your creator, of washing on the shore of life’s rocky moments to discover love and hope lingering longer than shame or blame.

We don’t need to trust the epic purity that sings like a mountain spring, just trust the source that’s upstream from all this melodic meaning.  Sleepy Eyed Fox sits on the cusp of becoming something unstoppably great. Discover them. –Andrew William Smith, Editor

For more information on Sleepy Eyed Fox or their album Weary Hearts, please visit sleepyeyedfox.com

Rich With Layers: New Bon Iver

People can change, musically. There was a time when, if it didn’t have a double-bass drum beat or wild guitar solos, I was not interested. That is to say, when Bon Iver’s first album was released, I was not ready for that acoustic masterpiece.

But I have changed. I have discovered the world of music outside the realm of heavy metal, and have spent the last year frantically trying to catch up. Just as my musical tastes have broadened since 2008, Justin Vernon has also made a transition since recording his first album, from the raw cabin-sounds of For Emma, Forever Ago into the produced and almost-experimental style of Bon Iver’s new self-titled release.

This album contains many elements particularly pleasant to my ears. “Perth” starts the album with a soft guitar riff that builds up with a sharp snare drum beat and horns, two recurring themes of the album. Several tracks could easily lull me into sweet dreams, particularly the lyrical “Holocene.” In contrast, “Calgary” is driven and instrumentally textured. The album has enough complexity to separate it from strictly ambient music, but it’s still simple and melodic enough to be very calming and easy to listen to.

Justin Vernon’s characteristic falsetto is prominently featured in this album, adding even more texture to an album rich with layers. The vocal styling gets a little weird during “Hinnom, TX” with excessive reverb on both an extra-falsetto and a baritone voice singing together. That aside, Vernon’s unique voice stands out as the defining characteristic of the Bon Iver sound.

 

When I first picked up this album, I was afraid that I would find a bluegrass influence beyond the limits of my taste. But every time Bon Iver introduces a tad of banjo or some slide guitar, it pulls in more instruments or some other effect to redirect the focus of the sound. In most cases these additional layers are enough make the song palatable. The exception is held off to the end of the album. “Beth/Rest” is a dramatic break in style, lacking an element of dreamy curiosity found throughout the other tracks. Instead, it packs in an ambitious amount of 80s synth, jazzy saxophone, overly Auto-tuned vocals, and, God help us, slide guitar, in a way that just doesn’t sit well.

It was only after thoroughly enjoying Bon Iver that I found time to appreciate For Emma, Forever Ago. I immediately came to understand the hype and subsequent disappointment in Bon Iver from many fans of his incredible debut album. Remaining from the last album is Bon Iver’s ability to create soft and peaceful textures. The difference is that it stretches out into experimental places with orchestration and synth-sounds.

It’s the sort of album I have come to expect this year from an artist with a history of acoustic hits. Recently, Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine have both produced albums that incorporate styles beyond the scope of their usual form. What sets these artists apart is the gradual maturation from their folk roots to their latest releases.  With only one other album, Bon Iver lack the experience needed to execute a progressive album as masterfully as his contemporaries.

My musical interests have changed over the past three years, and Bon Iver has changed some, too. Although a few tracks on this album left me in want for something different or more like his first, as a whole and independent entity Bon Iver is well worth a listen.           –Amy Rauch, Contributing Writer

Vedder’s Spirit, Passion, & Simplicity

No, it’s not some sort of tongue-in-cheek inside joke. Pearl Jam front-man Eddie Vedder has called his second solo album Ukulele Songs because that’s what it really is. It is a gorgeous album full of serious and sentimental songs Vedder has composed over the years, as well as a couple covers, for the small four-stringed Hawaiian instrument.

In 2007, on his first go at recording independently of Pearl Jam, Vedder made the critically praised soundtrack Into the Wild. Still rooted in guitar-driven rock, Into the Wild had a sound that was somewhat folksy and far more airy and free than would ever be achieved on a Pearl Jam album. Here you will find songs that required nothing more than a guitar (or a mandolin) to accompany his dynamic voice. This may have been the first sign that an entire album like Ukulele Songs would be possible.

If Into the Wild was musically sparse, then Ukulele Songs is entirely bare-bones. Vedder abandons all additional accompaniments beyond the ukulele, save for some strings in one track and a bit of vocal assistance.

In Pearl Jam, the combination of Vedder’s powerful voice and the intensity of the talented rock group is simply overwhelming (in the good way). So when the drums and electric guitars are all stripped away, we are left with a chance to focus in on the texture of Vedder’s unique vocal stylings. The simplicity of the ukulele allows Vedder to play with his voice in a way that only he can, flowing between a gentle, whispering croon to a shout that can shake your soul.

What is so impressive is how Vedder takes a novelty-toy of an instrument and creates sincere, listenable music with it. However, there is still a whimsical element to it. You will not hear Vedder’s political viewpoints on this album. You will hear love songs and covers of old popular songs like you might hear performed by Ella Fitzgerald. (If at this point you still think this is totally ridiculous, at least give him a bit of credit for skipping over all of those painfully obligatory ukulele performances like “Somewhere over the Rainbow.”)

The album begins with “Can’t Keep,” a perfect first track that’s as hard rocking as you can get on a ukulele. It keeps building and Vedder’s voice keeps soaring until you think he might just start to fly up into the atmosphere.

Just by looking at the song titles, you can guess that the first half of the album is about heartbreak: “Sleeping by Myself,” “Goodbye,” and well, “Broken Heart.” These songs are yearning and passionate, but not altogether depressing. Vedder rips your heart out but eases the pain with the sweet ukulele. It brings you straight into the writing process. How relieving it must be to have such a happy little instrument to write songs on when you are feeling sad!

To be honest, the ukulele does have its limitations. After a point, I found myself wishing it would stop sounding so… twingy. Fortunately, like an oasis, “Longing to Belong” is tucked into the middle of the album at track 8, providing relief from the lone twingy uke. This beautiful song includes a lovely cello accompaniment. The additional instrumentation makes this song more accessible than some of the other songs on the album, making it the obvious choice as the single, released in March.

Another highlight of the album is “Sleepless Nights.” I am a sucker for vocal harmonies, and when that harmony happens to be Glen Hansard of The Swell Season and The Frames, I am sold. “Tonight You Belong to Me” also includes additional vocals from Cat Power.

This is the perfect summertime album. “Light Today” even has the sound of gentle ocean waves on what I imagine to be the most peaceful beach in the entire world. Although “Ukulele Songs” might sound like it would be an album full of images of piña coladas and Hawaiian luaus, the 50^th state is hardly brought to mind by this music. Ukulele Songs could just as sweetly treat you to nostalgic visions of yesteryear lounging in the backyard with an iced tea and someone you loved.

After over twenty years of rocking out (Pearl Jam’s Ten came out in 1991. Feel old?), Eddie Vedder has not only kept the spirit and passion in his music that we have come to expect, he has continued to press himself creatively and grow as an artist. In Ukulele Songs, he has reached beyond grunge and alternative rock into a realm in which he can really show off his musical and vocal talents. –Amy Rauch, Contributing Writer

 

 

 

Coming Full Circuital: Jacket Jams Monastic & Fantastic

The review-as-press-release-quipping-common-wisdom concerning the rock kings of the Kentucky hills on their sixth studio release implies that it’s the “return to their roots record” – that is, the return to hairy masculine pyrotechnic roots rock in reaction to the fairly fairy funky flourishes of Evil Urges. Perhaps it’s that – but it’s more than that.

With the many philosophical readings of the album’s title (and title track) Circuital shaking the trees of Appalachia, there’s no doubt that this record rides a wide river of meaning. Thus, the return to form returns to being born – not so much a return to their roots, but a return to our roots, to the roots of humanity, to the circuit of life where a tribe of earthlings does their “Victory Dance” of simply waking up to the “First Light” of a spiritual reality.

With his monkish humility, muppet mop, and wizard’s beard, Jim James has always rocked his frontman mystique like a renegade mystic, peddling rock n roll parables and koans of a Zen Jedi sensibility with sudden doses of Jesus and the devil thrown in to keep us guessing. Churning out albums and tours “on the circuit” like a fiery preacher or rodeo star matches work ethic with a wandering wisdom and yearning for greater truth, beauty, and freedom.

Culminating the band’s career to this point, Circuital could be listened to as a coherent religious statement, a new testament of a band’s enduring magic and magnificence on the edge of midlife maturity. In our world’s menu-driven kaleidoscope of easy downloads and fleeting fads, My Morning Jacket craft an old school and epic modernity, full-length albums worth dusting off the headphones and turning off the lights for, for focused and mellow front-to-back sonic contemplation.

My Morning Jacket are a band that give me hope that “The Day Is Coming” when all our splicing and dicing of contemporary music subgenres will collapse back into the more generous and inclusive categories of rock and pop, where music’s communal impulses will return us to our primary purposes of improving our world. Listening to “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)” – a song that’s been in the Jacket & James’s live sets for some time now – I cannot help but want it to become the campfire classic of the 21^st century, a sort of New Age mantra-mashup where “Kumbaya” meets “The Big Rock Candy Mountain.” It’s a glorious track of holy hummin’ and strummin’ that’s always existed in the heart and that I can’t imagine ever growing tired of.

I don’t know about you, but this Jacket fan had more than a few demons I had to get “Outta My System” over my years of indulging in the seedier sides of the music scene. Today, this charming track could be listened to with humility or nostalgia by some fans and as a warning to others, cautioning both against prodigal excess and excesses of piety. The sudden switch to the slick, sick, and slinky jam of “Holdin’ Onto Black Metal” keeps reminding us about the dark side even as it ages into a humorous and health distance from it. This record dances in the deeper grooves, all about a band growing up before our ears and eyes, gifting us with lessons about growing up.

With abiding respect for rock’s many rivers progressing toward an ocean of awesome, My Morning Jacket tap twinkly and tweaky sources of playful genius and balance these with reverence for songcraft, cultural evolution, and spiritual awakening. Their popular progress has been steady and slow and while not as gargantuan as peers like Fleet Foxes or Kings of Leon or any of the Jack White projects, they remain my favorite of the 21st century bands for their courageous sincerity and complex simplicity. This is a circuit I’ve been on since 2006, and one I’d like to stay on with the band for as long as they’re working it and bringing us back to the place where we all began and begin again.

–Andrew William Smith, Editor (Circuital was released on Tuesday, May 31. Visit mymorningjacket.com)

Fleet Foxes Weave Masterpiece in “Helplessness Blues”

Any of the rapidly-increasing droves that are obsessed with Fleet Foxes can tell you the band makes overwhelmingly pretty music. So easy is it, in fact, to be smitten by their gorgeous vocal harmonies – and get caught up in their seemingly effortless melodic sway – that it can be difficult to see much of anything else about them.

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