{"id":1619,"date":"2017-02-21T18:32:38","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T23:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=1619"},"modified":"2017-02-21T18:32:38","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T23:32:38","slug":"new-release-roundup-new-shades-of-blue-with-son-volt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2017\/02\/21\/new-release-roundup-new-shades-of-blue-with-son-volt\/","title":{"rendered":"New Release Roundup: New Shades of Blue with Son Volt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Son Volt<\/a> \u2013 Notes of Blue<\/em> <\/strong>
\nIf there is one consistency throughout Jay Farrar\u2019s career, from Uncle Tupelo to Son Volt to New Multitudes, it\u2019s his ability to drive a sliver of hope into the heart of despair. He sets that tone immediately on Son Volt\u2019s latest album, Notes of Blue<\/em>. Pedal steel swoops gently over a strumming guitar on \u201cPromise the World\u201d as Farrar sings, \u201cDon\u2019t get down when the cavalry doesn\u2019t arrive\/It\u2019s only in Hollywood\/They didn\u2019t get it right\/There will be damage\/There will be hell to pay\/Light after darkness\/That is the way.\u201d He follows that with \u201cBack Against the Wall,\u201d a sort of interpolation of Dylan\u2019s \u201cForever Young\u201d in spirit with a massive burst of Crazy Horse-like overdrive. The dark times are coming, he says, but so is the light, and it\u2019s only when your back is against the wall that all is revealed. \u201cThere will be times of injustice,\u201d sings Farrar, \u201cTimes when there\u2019s more lost than found\/Down times mixed with days of wonder\/A real-life spinning Merry-Go-Round.\u201d It\u2019s the blueprint for making it through trouble, and there are plenty of troubles in the songs ahead \u2013 temptation of whiskey and Cherokee St. girls (or Delmar Avenue girls, for that matter), the man with the \u201cgo to hell hat,\u201d death, and hell itself. <\/p>\n

Farrar has said the blues was foundational for this album, although it\u2019s never been too far under the surface with him. He\u2019s always had a perfect voice for moaning the blues, in the way he bends a word in the middle to bury the end of a phrase or let it float. He can take your mood up or down depending on that bend. And it\u2019s particularly flexible on this album. Farrar\u2019s definition of the blues stretches from Skip James to Nick Drake. \u201cSinking Down\u201d has the hallmark Uncle Tupelo time change, alternating between a revved-up Mississippi Fred McDowell groove and a pulse slower by half led by a chiming acoustic guitar. Farrar offers some of his most muscular guitar rock in years \u2013 bring your earplugs if you\u2019re seeing Son Volt live on this tour. The chunky overdrive on \u201cLost Souls\u201d is gorgeous, staccato blasts of chords that opens up into a fiery \u201cVoodoo Child (Slight Return)\u201d chorus as Farrar declares, \u201cThis world won\u2019t give us the time.\u201d \u201cMidnight\u201d recalls \u201cIn the Pines\u201d in its sense of doom, and \u201cThreads and Steel\u201d is slinky and sinister, describing \u201ca man going \u2018round taking names.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cCairo and Southern,\u201d second from the end, is where the Drake influence pops up. The delicate steel string and background drone give it a soothing psychedelic folk feel. But it\u2019s clearly blues in intent, when Farrar sings \u201cThink I\u2019ll go to Cairo\/To ease the trouble on my mind,\u201d pronouncing it \u201cKay-row,\u201d which has the effect of making the narrator sound strange, out of another time or place. \u201cThe Storm\u201d blends folk and blues in a more traditional way, just voice and fingerpicked acoustic guitar. \u201cSpent all my money on whiskey and women,\u201d Farrar sings, \u201cBeen in this storm too long.\u201d <\/p>\n

Whatever the style or approach, Farrar is ably followed by a new incarnation of the band, with multi-instrumentalist staple Mark Spencer, drummer Jacob Edwards, fiddle player Gary Hunt, and pedal steel player Jason Kardong. They can provide atmosphere for the more mellow tunes or attack like a no-nonsense rock band. And Notes of Blue<\/em> gives them a workout. <\/p>\n

Son Volt – “Back Against the Wall” <\/strong>
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