|
Jay
Farrar - Terroir Blues
If Ryan Adams is the Justin Timberlake of the current Americana crop, then Jay Farrar is the Bono – constantly evolving, respected by people you wouldn’t automatically associate with his music and capable of something akin to overindulgence at least once in a while. The overindulgence point is a difficult one to call for Farrar’s latest offering – an initial glance at the twenty three tracks is probably about as excessive as you can get for a single album without your band being called They Might Be Giants, and a more detailed look reveals that the last third of the record consists of different version of tracks that appeared just half an hour earlier into proceedings. It’s Farrar: The Musical, if you like. Still, the proof’s in the pudding as they say, and “Terroir Blues” quickly feels like Jay at his most honest – indeed despite the name and the press release inferring an elaborate St Louis inspired embodiment of a musical crossroads, it’s a more authentically Farrar sounding album than either of his most recent two releases. Particularly compared to “Sebastapol” which on occasion felt like he was trying too hard not to be Son Volt for the sake of, well, not being Son Volt, “Terroir Blues” has many more moments of warmth. “Hard is the Fall” (both versions – you get the picture) and the opening “No Rolling Back” immediately cast you back to the distinctive “Straightways” era of Farrar’s old band and songs like the grimly compelling “Heart on the Ground” prove that Jay can still cut county with the best of them. That’s not to say that the record is entirely devoid of some of the experimentation a la Beachwood Sparks of its more recent predecessors, and it does occasionally grate when it’s wrapped around already difficult bleak pieces. More interesting and more successful is the occasional inclusion of cello and even flute (an instrument that’s hugely undervalued in the Americana genre) on “Out on the Road.” But the piano, lapsteel and slide form the basis for the accompaniment to Jay throughout, never taking him too far away from the sound he’s too accomplished at by now to shun completely. “Terroir Blues” is a bit too long and it’s not likely to leave you grinning ear from ear, but it’s Farrar sounding like himself again, and, the lack of another “Station to Station” aside (you could listen to half a dozen versions of that track and not get bored), it confirms his status and talent in a way that won’t leave anyone disappointed. MW |
