Lucinda Wiliams: West Transcript

UMC.org Music Review

Lucinda Williams:  West
Label: Lost Highway
Sound/Style: rough-edged and moody alternative country

By Steve Morley

(UMC.org)—Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams famously wrote Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 1992 country smash "Passionate Kisses." Admittedly, the lighthearted song wasn’t one of Williams’ most representative works. Today, it reads like a virtual Hallmark card compared to the singer’s dour offerings of recent years. Her latest CD, West, is centered on the fallout of failed romance, though not in a typical pity party sort of way. Most of the 13 tracks on West don’t so much wallow as probe deep recesses of pain, and lament the frustrated desire for wholeness. While topics like these could easily prompt a cry to the Creator, signs of spiritual search are few. Instead, Williams explores a jagged landscape that is at turns aching, vindictive and introspective. Melody is in short supply, though her penchant for richly detailed and original lyrics makes this a more intriguing ride than it might be in the hands of a lesser tunesmith.

"Everything Has Changed," a simple song at first glance, is about literal change as well as the way emotions can seem to alter objective reality: "Towns I used to live in have been rearranged/ Highways I once traveled down don’t look the same/ Everything has changed." The lyric’s progression of loss and isolation suggests that what we often call joy and faith can be based on circumstances that are too easily shaken: "All the magic vanished into the misty air/ And I can’t find my joy anywhere/ Now I don’t know where my faith has gone…"

"Unsuffer Me" makes impossible demands of a would-be lover, asking not just for healing, but also permanent and retroactive protection against pain and emptiness. The track, which could double as a desperate prayer, blends the bluesy drama of classic Pink Floyd with the raw bluster of Neil Young: Unsuffer me / Take away the pain/ Unbruise, unbloody/ Wash away the stain/ Anoint my head/ With your sweet kiss/ My joy is dead/ I long for bliss/ Unsuffer me."

While many cuts are low-key ruminations, Williams burns angrily on the R-rated "Come On" and "Wrap My Head Around That," the latter a take on the difficulty of male-to-female communication: "And what I thought I heard you say/ And what you really said/ And what I thought you thought I thought/ Was actually in your head."

While the disc’s prickly themes and desolate sound can feel like a bony hand gripping your shoulder, Williams sometimes finds a hidden vein of melancholy beauty. One such gem, the lilting "What If," is a poetic meditation wrapped in surrealism. Absurd notions – like what if thick became thin or dogs became kings – give way to poignant thoughts and even scenes of biblical proportions: "(What) If mountains fell in slivers/ And the sky began to bleed/ And blood filled up the rivers/ And prisoners were freed." The song eventually reveals itself as a puzzle concealing a guarded wish for a world of justice, mercy and abundant love: "(What) If cats walked on water/ And birds had bank accounts/ And we loved one another/ In equal amounts."

Such compassion is a relative rarity on the record. The disc retains a purposely scuffed up sound that matches Williams’ harsh, twangy consonants and her grainy delivery, which is an acquired taste at best. Amidst the unsettling images, Lucinda Williams freely offers validation and possibly catharsis for the suffering on West, a desert soundscape perhaps most familiar to parched hearts.

Audio Clips

"Are You Alright?"

"Mama You Sweet"

"Learning How to Live"

"Fancy Funeral"