Ryan Adams’ newest album Prisoner starts out with a question: “Do You Still Love Me?” The opening track is a slow yet driving start that promises good things to come, and everything from the haunting synth to Adams’ surprisingly tense voice makes us think this won’t be like any other album he’s released.
But it is, and rather than delivering something fresh, the album doesn’t really go anywhere from there.
The rest of Prisoner is typical Adams — folky rock tunes with relatable lyrics and catchy melodies, and every song from the second track on is exactly this. This isn’t really a bad thing, it’s what you want from Adams and what you expect from him, but after the buildup of the album’s opener, it feels like a letdown, not because it isn’t any good but because it brings you down when you were expecting to just keep climbing.
Although you’ll probably still love Adams after Prisoner, he would be better off leaving the tough questions until the end when we’re ready to answer them.
