Ray Lamontagne - Supernova (2014) {RCA}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 278 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 102 Mb
Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 Stone Dwarf / RCA / Sony Music | 88843054552
Rock / Alternative Rock / Indie / Songwriter
Over four
previous albums, singer and songwriter Ray LaMontagne has presented as
many different musical portraits of himself. What united those records
was the signature world-weariness in his writing and singing -- even in
the seeming celebratory roots rock on 2009's God Willin' & the Creek
Don't Rise. While Supernova, helmed by producer Dan Auerbach, presents
yet another aspect of the songwriter's persona, that earthly weightiness
all but vanishes. This is simultaneously LaMontagne's most sonically
ambitious and purposefully referential offering to date; but the
considerable topical and melodic shift in his songwriting dictated it.
These songs are brighter, lighter, and musically more labyrinthine
despite their ready accessibility. Auerbach's sound and textural
palettes are so expansive he seems to have evoked Jack Nitzsche as a
muse. He chose the band to orchestrate these songs that draw so heavily
from Southern California's psychedelic pop and country-rock of the late
1960s and early '70s. "Lavender" has fat electric guitar chords that
give way to a strummed acoustic guitar, Mellotron, and electric
harpsichord. The dreamy Eastern feel in the music is held to earth by
clipped snares and a lean bassline. But LaMontagne's layered, reverbed
vocal and its whispered, percussive, "tchick-ahhh" chorus effects make
the song's textures swirl. "Airwaves," in its hepcat acoustic soul and
dreamy jazz, is one of several places where LaMontagne acknowledges the
influence of early Van Morrison (from Astral Weeks through Moondance).
"Pick Up a Gun" is darkly tinged at inception; it recalls Alice
Coltrane's modalism with its harp-like Mellotron intro, but breaks into
four different segments inside five minutes. It's alternately a sweet
country waltz, a progressive folk-rock tune à la Tim Buckley, and a
tripped-out pop tune à la Brian Wilson. "Julia" borrows the vamp from
Them's "Gloria" but winds it out in grand psych rock style to become
something other. The title track initially evokes the spirit of
Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" with its minimal acoustic guitar vamp,
pulsing organ (that sounds more like a Farfisa than a Hammond), and
handclaps, but threads it with a retro-soul bridge and layers of
progressive instrumentation, including glockenspiel and Mellotron, which
float under a sitar impersonation and reverbed drums. "Ojai" is
shimmering country-rock that simultaneously recalls Tim Hardin and John
Phillips. The shifting rhythms and textures in "Smashing" are so
exquisitely arranged and orchestrated, it feels like a rock suite with
the alluring melody of a pop song. Closer "Drive-In Movies" an
easy-grooving acoustic rocker with electric and pedal steel guitars
holding the center, offers a notion of reminiscence that seems to
thematically underscore the entire record. Supernova is unapologetically
and indulgently retro; a casual listen might dismiss it as mere
nostalgia. But pairing Auerbach's detailed, careful production with
LaMontagne's open, expertly crafted songwriting and breezy, sensual,
emotionally unburdened signing, that boundary is shattered. |
tracklist:
01 - Lavender
02 - Airwaves
03 - She's the One
04 - Pick Up a Gun
05 - Julia
06 - No Other Way
07 - Supernova
08 - Ojai
09 - Smashing
10 - Drive-in Movies
No comments:
Post a Comment