Print Edition: January 29, 2014
Roseanne Cash
The River and the Thread
I’m not a fan of what they call “musical royalty.” Those musicians who have inherited a name are often a let-down, hardly even an afterthought in the legacy of their parents. Rosanne Cash, however, has proven herself something else. It’s not going to be her vocals that draw you in. Cash has a voice that’s plain as yogurt. No, for The River and the Thread it’s going to be the depth and open-heartedness of her lyrics, brimming with melancholy and character. Cash writes loneliness (“His words are cruel and they sting like fire / like the devil’s choir”), she writes eerie metaphor (“So open up the window/And hand the baby through / Point up towards the ghostly bridge / And she’ll know what to do”), and — perhaps most beautifully — place (“Dark highways and country roads/don’t scare you like they did / the woods and winds, they’ll welcome you / to the places you once hid”). From Alabama, Arkansas, the Mississippi, and Memphis, Cash works her way around the South with the flowing surge and pull of the (as promised) thread and river. This isn’t a driving album; listen to Cash’s album outside and watch the world move around you, rather than vice versa.
Dum Dum Girls
Too True
The Dum Dum Girls have steadily evolved since their formation in 2008, going from a strictly lo-fi formula that invoked ‘60s girl group melodies with ‘80s garage rock to a cleaner and lush style of pop. Here on Too True, that cleaner pop sound is fused with darker lyrical undertones, as the group begins to dabble in shoegaze and rockabiliy to keep the listener bopping along. Lead singer Dee Dee Penny demonstrates a range of vocal abilities here, but her versatility and charm extends into her chic fashion sense. The always starry-eyed Dee Dee kicks off the record with “Cult of Love,” where she proclaims “I belong to the cult of love.” But as Too True wears on, it becomes apparent that the Dum Dum Girls find themselves going back and forth between the garage-pop grit of their past and a more polished style of production. Their formula and song structure remain intact, but even Dee Dee admits on “Lost Boys and Girls Club” that “There’s no particular place we are going, but we’re going.” Is Too True a transitional record or a deviation? Only time will tell.
Switchfoot
Fading West
As per usual, Switchfoot’s newest album is a mix of cheerful, inspirational, and optimistic, bordering on naïve. “Love alone is worth the FIGHT!” Jon Foreman sings on the first track, sounding like a more motivated Chad Kruger seasoned with a decent dose of Christian ideology. It’s easy to rag on Switchfoot for being so damn cheerful all the damn time, but the music has its merits. Sometimes it’s nice to immerse yourself in an album’s worth of songs that sound like the soundtrack to a romantic comedy at the exact moment the two protagonists realize they can’t live without each other. The only time this album fails, in fact, is when it gets too far away from the beaten path of Switchfoot style, as in “Say It Like You Mean It,” which edges on spoken word, and “Let it Out,” which lays claim to repetitive guitar slams and background synth that would be more at home on a One Direction album. But at the end of the day, they know how to make it work: “Slipping Away” neatly folds into the classic vanilla structure Switchfoot has cultivated for a decade, a not-poisonously cheerful track that could easily play on a top 40 station.
Au Revoir Simone
Move in Spectrums
It’s hard to believe that the trio of Au Revoir Simone has been together for 13 years. Over that time band members Erika Forster, Annie Hart, and Heather D’Angelo have crafted a sound that bubbles ethereally and smoothly with classic pop elements. This sound is mostly made of keyboard synth and drum machine and that’s particularly true for their fourth full-length, Move in Spectrums. At 46 minutes this album is a precise delivery of everything that the band stands for. What really brings this album home, though, are the tracks that flourish in the heavily glossy ‘80s influence, such as “Somebody Who” and the ultimate track “Gravitron.” Of course, there are also the cooler-temperature ones such as “Boiling Point” and the laser sighted album closer “Let the Night Win.” This album ultimately isn’t about the lyrics but the electronic journey that traverses both valleys and mountainous heights.
