Relaxed, charming vibe from duo ‘Wild Rabbit’
‘The Slow Rush’ beautiful
W(REGI
Music) It’s no surprise that for Wild Rabbit Salad, the ingredients are a bit quirky.
“Trouble in Town” includes a cheating song with a cello solo, a happy-hour lament, a tale of haberdashery, two Townes Van Zandt covers and a reference to him elsewhere. It’s as good as it sounds. Houston-based Bucky Goldberg and Marietta Roebuck, a duo professionally and personally, bring to their fourth album a relaxed, charming vibe. Pitch and tempo aren’t always steady, but their approach fits the subject matter.
Both have striking voices. Goldberg recalls Howe Gelb’s dry drawl on the wonderful opener “Drop Top Cadillac”, a tale of loneliness and lessons learned, and he makes like Bruce Springsteen on the title cut. The classically trained Roebuck sings beautifully on Van Zandt’s ballad “Tecumseh Valley”, and rocks out on trading verses with Goldberg on breakup tune “Four Days Sober”.
The couple also sing about a devastating flood, a mining accident, the hobo life and crossing over to the other side. It’s a set unlikely to duplicate anything already on any musical menu.
Goldberg
By Steven Wine
“Trouble in Town”
Slow Rush”
(Interscope Records)
Time can be a comfort or curse. It can heal, but it can also compress, building up a pressure that begs for release.
“The Slow Rush” seems to be just that – a discharge of the creative pressure that was mounting after years of fans questioning, “What will Tame Impala do next?”
The success of the psychedelic rock band’s 2015 “Currents” allowed them to become one of the defining rock groups of the last decade. And with this album, they’ve delivered once again.
“The Slow Rush” can be viewed as an analysis of time, wrapped up in a wall of electronics, synthesizers and funk influence that cushion even the most brazen of questions. Beliefs, grudges, insecurities – how do they transform? How does one press on past the comforts of being lost in yesterday?
The album is not only tied by themes of time, but also an overarching feel that singer, writer and producer Kevin Parker is trying to prove something. Whether he’s trying to convince someone else or himself is not always clear.
“Tell everyone I’ll be alright,” he sings on “On Track”, “Because strictly speaking, I’m still on track.”
In “Breathe Deeper” this defensive tone is taken once again – “If you think I couldn’t hold my own, believe me, I can.” These lines are moderated by an upbeat psych-synth sound that masks the melancholy. But song after song the sense of insecurity reappears in the lines sung by Parker.
One of the most brilliant songs on the album is “Posthumous Forgiveness”. Parker fully confronts the complexity of coping with his father’s death, cycling through blame, anger, despair and longing over the course of the 6-minute track.
The song is effectively split in two with the first part processing his rage as minor chords on synth are played underneath – “To save all of us, you told us both to trust/But now I know you only saved yourself.”
The song builds, like mounting indignation, only to release. A certain somberness is traded for a more hopeful feel as he recounts moments he wishes he could share with his father – “Wanna tell you ‘bout my life/Wanna play you all my songs.”
of Prey: The Album” (Atlantic Records and Warner Bros.)
The all-female roster assembled for “Birds of Prey: The Album” represent uniquely different worlds, and a variety of music styles, but their message on the movie soundtrack is singular: Don’t Mess with Us.
It’s a perfectly on-brand message from the girl gang, as they channel the explosiveness, unpredictability of Harley Quinn, the unhinged DC character, whose romance with the Joker has ended just as “Birds of Prey”, the film, begins.
Naturally there’s a breakup anthem (with a twist of vengeance, of course), by way of the Charlotte Lawrence single “Jokes on You”. Then there is “Smile” by English singer Maisie Peters, whose sweet voice delivers an awesome dose of Quinn-inspired communication: “... got bridges to burn, and places to run/ yeah this smile is a loaded gun.”
Lyrics toe the line between confident and out of control, with Megan Thee Stallion exhibiting both on the single “Diamonds”, which also features Normani. “He think it’s cute that I know how to shoot/Don’t you get scared if I point it at you,” Stallion raps.
Damage” (Unmade Road/Caroline)
Ben Watt’s “Storm Damage” surveys the distance, both physical and emotional, and its connection to personal histories and relationships.
Expertly layering electronic and acoustic instruments, the songs are anchored by a trio of keyboards (Watt), bass (Rex Horan) and drums (Evan Jenkins), with Watt also incorporating guitars and unobtrusive found sounds.
Watt, formerly in Everything But the Girl with his wife, Tracey Thorn, explores powerful depths of feeling – from frailty and dependence to revisions and release – on songs with straightforward but often inventive arrangements.
The emotional charges have many origins, from the death of half-siblings in recent years and the political climate, to gusts of nostalgia and melancholy and the challenges faced by his children’s generation.
Long an excellent songwriter, Watt is also an increasingly effective and expressive singer on his fourth solo album. Opener “Balanced on a Wire”, which perhaps most clearly carries the influence of mentor Robert Wyatt, reflects on the paths available to youth, which may seem reduced to either exploding or keeping it all in.
“Summer Ghosts”, which sounds a bit haunted in that David Sylvian way, looks back on his own family and formative years, including the location where his relationship with Thorn began. (AP)