LITTLE ROCK — The Deep Dark Woods
The Place I Left Behind
Sugar Hill
A
There are a bunch of acts working the Americana/roots music turf these days, but few measure up to the songwriting, melodic and harmonic gifts of Canada’s The Deep Dark Woods.
Close your eyes and you can hear the yearning and emotional keening of The Band, the deep melancholy of Magnolia Electric Company, hints of Neil Young and Iron & Wine. On the Woods’ new album, the songs are about unfulfilled dreams and desires, lovers who appear only when they are in pain, love gone wrong or weird. Emotions are expressed eloquently in word and music (especially Lucas Goetz’s wonderful pedal steel work). Singer Ryan Boldt sounds conflicted between a restless nature and a heart yearning for love.
Elegiac, earthy and relaxed, The Place I Left Behind is lofty in its ambitions, simple in its execution and, in the best sense of the word, timeless.
While there’s not a weak tune on this set, “Mary’s Gone” is a real gem, a lostlove ballad with a soul-deep ache.
— ELLIS WIDNER
Joe Henry
Reverie
Anti-
A
Unconventional crooner/ superstar studio hand Joe Henry delivers his most accessible strangeness in a while with the songwriter’s showcase Reverie, a cinematic album that blurs conventional boundaries and folds the ambient noise of the urban jungle into a pop cycle of 14 jewel like songs.
The aura is all smoke and velvet, with the odd bark or percussive crack piercing through, and the lyrics are dreamy, evoking rivers and tides and walls. It’s a little like Van Dyke Parks (if he wasn’t such an aggressively obscure simp) or like T Bone Burnett tripping softly on the good acid they had before the world turned mean. All right, I’ll admit I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m having a good time trying.
— PHILIP MARTIN
Mastodon
The Hunter
Reprise
B
Mastodon belongs to the world now. No longer is it that obscure Atlanta metal act known for pulverizing concept albums on topics such as Moby Dick. The Hunter captures Mastodon at the same moment at which Metallica found itself two decades ago: on the cusp of vast fame and backed by new songs that have softened the harsh sonic edges ever so slightly for a wider audience.
The single “Curl of the Burl” is a cut so groovy that listeners could be forgiven for thinking it’s something by Queens of the Stone Age.
On the surface, the new Mastodon varies little from the old one. Each song slams down an avalanche of riffs, while Troy Sanders on bass and Brent Hinds on guitar compete to see whose lead vocals can sound more anguished.
The swampy production suggests Led Zeppelin reborn in the contemporary South’s sludge-metal scene. Yet the band has broadened its palette: Witness the mournful title track, the dirgelike “The Sparrow” or the ambient “The Creature Lives,” which resembles nothing so much as Vangelis’ score for Blade Runner.
All this progression means that simply rocking your face off has ceased to be Mastodon’s primary mission. It falls to a guest appearance, late in the game, by Scott Kelly of Neurosis on “Spectrelight” to help the guys remember that, yes, they play in a metal band and can sound appropriately ugly. Otherwise, they’ve turned into the metal act you can take home to mother.
— JEREMY M. DOHERTY
Kristin Chenoweth
Some Lessons Learned
Sony Masterworks
B+
The award-winning actress/singer veers away from the standards and show tunes she’s known for and into the realm of country.
The country style is most noticeable on the faster, more comedic numbers like “I Didn’t” and “I Want Somebody.” But she doesn’t overdo the twang.
Not all the tracks are so obviously country. “What If We Never” and “Lessons Learned” sound more pop than country, and “Change” may be a Dolly Parton cover, but Chenoweth sings it straight. Speaking of Dolly, Chenoweth salutes her hero with the rollicking breakup song “What Would Dolly Do?”
Whatever the style, Chenoweth is a skilled singer with a clear, powerful sound, and she interprets songs with flair and personality. If you like your country hardcore, this probably doesn’t go far enough. If you like Chenoweth and country makes you grind your teeth rather than break into a two-step, you might be disappointed. But if you fall in the middle, the album could be just right.
— JENNIFER NIXON
Tommy Stinson
One Man Mutiny
Done to Death
B+
Ex-Replacements, current Guns ’n’ Roses/Soul Asylum bassist Tommy Stinson steps out for another solo turn on this gritty set that has some nice slide guitar action (“It’s a Drag”), sweet alt-pop (“Meant to Be”) and a lonesome barroom ballad (“Come to Hide”), complete with a trumpet solo. There’s even a goofy country spoof (“Zero to Stupid”) that could actually be a hit for somebody (Hey, Brad Paisley, cover this thing).
Stinson has always been a top-notch songwriter. Makes you wish he could just put out his own records and not have to worry about those other gigs.
— SEAN CLANCY
Style, Pages 27 on 10/25/2011