Print Edition: July 18, 2012
Fiona Apple
The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw
and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Fiona Apple’s songs, dense with streaming lyrics and full with emotion, refuse to fade into the background. Occupying the still night and restless empty rooms, they translate the link between the mind and the heart in all its impossible intricate contortions – if at all comprehensible, only through intimacy. The Idler Wheel… could be read as a diary, readings of the self and its tendency towards narcissism herein. And it could also be said to be despairing, with anti-pop, love-is-in-the-past and gone-ness coming across like black medicine. But Apple’s (incredible) voicing to personal poetry sends out, not in, the passionate criticisms and enigmas of “Daredevil” and “Left Alone” amid rumbling, pitter-pat percussion, an act of spent creation that evokes and searches through, not escapes into, the personal. The comedown of missed opportunities and necessary removes does add up, but within the constant pull toward aloneness is the full power of “Hot Knife,” where Apple is echoed, confused with, and joined by other voices in a song that begins with “if” and never concludes – unresolved longing in all its painful ecstasy.
JEFF the Brotherhood
Hypnotic Nights
JEFF the Brotherhood is, like its name would suggest, a pair of drum and guitar-wielding brothers, James and Jamin Orall. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, the duo has crafted their own particular concoction of southern-fried, slightly psychedelic garage rock stretching back through six studio albums. Unlike popular music’s pantheon of notoriously tumultuous sibling relationships (see the Davies, Gallaghers or Fogertys), this musical twosome has enjoyed over a decade of steady growth while never straying too far from their roots. Admittedly, the premise of another southern rock band drawing on heavy-riffing ’70s staples like Black Sabbath had me skeptical, but the Brotherhood’s latest, produced by Dan Auerbach, is a surprisingly enjoyable record. The duo slather on a thick layer of scuzzy distortion which, combined with their proclivity for pop hooks, at times brings to mind Weezer’s self-titled debut. There are obvious distinctions, lyrically, as JEFF the Brotherhood tend to focus on barbeques, beer and the great outdoors (the album’s opening lyrics are “I want a place where I can smoke meat”), rather than Rivers Cuomo’s usual neurotic concerns. Despite these fairly banal lyrics, Hypnotic Nights wins hearts if not minds with its unassumingly hedonistic, windows rolled down joie de vivre.
Kenny Chesney
Welcome to the Fishbowl
Welcome to the Fishbowl may not be a profound departure from any of his other previous works, but Kenny Chesney has successfully maintained his easy-listening country reputation. With a predominantly slow array of songs, Chesney sings of love, loss and real life. Not exactly the classic “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” Chesney we all know and love, but a bit more of a relatable album to the common country listener (unless you do pick up chicks with a tractor, then I commend you). A particular track that sticks out is the most upbeat song on the album, a duet with Tim McGraw called “Feel Like a Rockstar” – it’s the kind of song you want blasting out of your speakers as you drive your pick-up into town. Chesney has the heart of country music in his songs but allows it to appear in a very non-redneck way. Although “Come Over” sounds very pop, Chesney skates along the now paper-thin barrier between country and pop flawlessly with smooth guitar riffs and the unmistakeable drawl in his voice, weaving together the perfect combination of the two genres while still staying true to his roots.
Sara Watkins
Sun Midnight Sun
Sara Watkins knows how to use a fiddle – that much was a given when she was with her previous band Nickel Creek. But when the band that had been together for 18 years split in 2007, few knew this would eventually see Watkins turn out one of the best solo folk albums in a long, long time, Sun Midnight Sun. And sitting here at the end of a long summer day as the sun sets really is the perfect setting for this album. It opens up with a straight acoustic piece entitled “The Foothills.” This is followed by what I consider one of the standout tracks and my personal favourite, “You and Me” – a very sweet and romantic account of a small town relationship. Of course, “When It Pleases You” is just superb as well, given she pours her soul into this song. Sun Midnight Sun comes to an end in a very relaxed fashion with “Take Up Your Spade,” giving what would be a sort of closure, if only I wasn’t going to play it all over again. It’s hard to describe what a masterpiece this album is. It is simply folk at its finest.
