UMC.org Music Review
Label: Columbia
Sound/Style: alternative folk-rock informed by classic country and mountain music
By Steve Morley
UMC.org—Americana music is a rough-edged hybrid that encompasses all manner of traditional American styles. Its practitioners usually either reject or don’t fit the constraints of today’s commercial country, righteously standing up for traditionalism as well as artistic freedom. Most fall short of wide-scale success, slipping between the floorboards of mainstream rock and country. Newcomer Brandi Carlile is a notable exception who is winning major media attention with her second Columbia album, The Story. Carlile, though only 24, writes and sings with the world-weary quality of an old soul.
Carlile comes by her mournful wail naturally, having been raised in the mountains of Washington and weaned on two generations’ worth of country music. Carlile’s music isn’t merely a throwback to vintage country, though. She works closely with twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth, musicians who are sympathetic to the singer’s rural sensibilities as well as her edgier indie-rock leanings. When they’re not enhancing the record’s more straightforward acoustic numbers, the brothers support Carlile’s rising and falling emotions, creating dynamic tension between rock aggression and country-styled yearning.
"Late Morning Lullaby," though written when the singer was just barely out of her teens, carries an emotional impact that goes beyond adolescent angst. In it, she’s burdened with an adult-sized load of regrets and an advancing dread that can only be escaped through sleep and a hazy detachment: "With a weight upon my chest/ And a ghost upon my back/ And the numbing sensation of everything I lack/ That keeps me dreaming, dreaming, dreaming your real world away."
Though Carlile doesn’t often sing uplifting sentiments, her perspective is never morose or cynical. She claims to be a worrier about family and friends who finds catharsis in the act of turning anxiety into songs. Her narrow inward gaze results in personal lyrics that make no comment on modern society, focusing on unchanging themes like fear, death, grief and the love/hate dichotomy of family bonds. The album is also light on religious subject matter, with only a brief mention of prayer as a means of sensing connection with departed loved ones.
Bandmate Phil Hanseroth’s two originals, while custom-made to fit Carlile’s vocal style, manage to offset the singer’s dark and sorrowful tendencies. On the briskly fingerpicked "Have You Ever," the wonders of nature lead to a meaningful reflection on identity and how small we are in comparison to all God has created: "Have you ever stared into a starry sky?/ Lying on your back you’re asking why/ What’s the purpose, I wonder who I am/ If you’ve ever stared into a starry sky."
The album would not be nearly as compelling without its anchoring title track, a sonic roller coaster ride written by Hanseroth and built around Carlile’s alternately pensive and strained vocals. The title tune ties the lyrically disparate record together, affirming that the details of a life take on the deepest significance in the context of close relationship with someone who knows all your secrets. Carlile doesn’t share them all on The Story, which is revealing but short on straightforward narratives. What she does offer—emotional vulnerability, authenticity and a novel rock twist on mountain music—is enough to suggest that her story is far from over.
Audio Clips
"Late Morning Lullaby"
"The Story"
"Turpentine"
"My Song"
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