This is my third Sarah Jarosz
review in the last sixteen albums. Sarah Jarosz is everywhere on the CD Odyssey
these days. The only logical conclusion is that the Sarah Jarosz Reign of
Terror is upon us! Flee for your lives!
Actually, don’t. Sarah Jarosz is
probably very gentle and kind. Her music is certainly beautiful. And besides,
I’m now out of Sarah Jarosz albums, so her reign ends here, at least for now.
Disc 1012 is…Build Me Up From Bones
Artist: Sarah
Jarosz
Year of Release: 2013
What’s up with the Cover? Sarah Jarosz looks very
traditional here, with her buttoned up blouse and piled up hair. She also looks
a bit like Aubrey Plaza, if Aubrey Plaza were a folk singer.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve told this story a lot
recently (see teaser above) but basically I was investigating a different
bluegrass artist (Aoife O’Donovan) and discovered I liked Jarosz even more. I
was particularly drawn to her 2016 release, “Undercurrent” and worked backward from there. "Build Me Up From Bones" was the first step in that backward journey.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Sarah Jarosz albums. I had
originally reserved second spot for this album, but upon further review I find
it isn’t quite as strong as “Follow Me Down” so I am bumping that album up to
second. “Build Me Up From Bones” drops to third.
As this
is (quite suddenly) my full Sarah Jarosz collection, here’s a recap:
- Undercurrent: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1004)
- Follow
Me Down: 3 stars
(reviewed at Disc 996)
- Build
Me Up From Bones: 2 stars
(reviewed right here)
Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3
The
thing that always strikes me first about Sarah Jarosz is her exceptional
musicianship, both vocally and on the many instruments she plays (guitar, banjo
and – in particular – the octave mandolin). While the songs on “Build Me Up
From Bones” aren’t quite as strong as those on the albums that came before and
after, that musicianship still carries the day and makes this an enjoyable
record.
Once
again, Jarosz continues her mix of smooth pop, bluegrass and contemporary folk,
working them well together and balancing more traditional sounds with ethereal
and atmospheric numbers. Also, there is a little jazz. Sometimes, a little too much jazz, at least for me.
The best
of the atmospheric songs is “Mile On the
Moon” which is grounded in a simple guitar strum and punctuated with jazzy
notes here and there to give it a dreamy quality that meanders through the back
doors of your mind.
This
approach doesn’t always work on “Build Me Up From Bones.” “Anything Else” feels a bit too much like contemporary easy
listening music, lacking the edge it needs to have an emotional impact.
When the
songs are stripped down, or even where Jarosz’ octave mandolin is simply higher
in the mix as it is on the title track, things worked a lot better for me.
Jarosz is an incredible talent on this instrument and I think I could sit and
listen to her play scales and be content. The title track is additionally aided
by the great vocals of Aoife O’Donovan, the artist who led me to discover
Jarosz in the first place.
Another
mandolin high point is Jarosz’ cover of Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” where a slow but insistent pluck feels like
it is being played on your heartstrings. Not literally of course; that would be
painful. With just a lone cello accompanying her, there is plenty of space for
her to explore both with her instrument and her voice, and she keeps it
tasteful and restrained throughout. It isn’t at the same level as her version
of “Ring Them Bells” (on the “Follow
Me Down” record) but its close.
Unfortunately,
after “Simple Twist of Fate” the last
half of the record didn’t grab me the same way. In particular, “The Book of Right On” landed very wrong
for me. I think it was supposed to be playful and experimental, but the lyrics
felt awkward, and the tune lands on the wrong side of lounge singer. If you are
wondering what the wrong side of that is, it’s the jazz side.
The rest
of side two is better, and the songs have a nice dreamy quality to them. The
musicianship also remains at a very high level, but the songs didn’t have the emotional
punch that the first half of the record gave me and on each listen I felt my
interest waning near the end.
Overall “Build
Me Up From Bones” felt like an album where Jarosz is spreading her artistic
wings. This is a good thing, but with that experimentation comes songs that can
be hit and miss. Three years later this would lead to great things on “Undercurrent”
so I can hardly complain about the journey that led her there.
Best
tracks: Mile on
the Moon, Build Me Up From Bones, Dark Road, Simple Twist of Fate
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