All hail the the four-day weekend! I’ve
started the weekend right last night with a pleasant dinner out with better
half, and now I face a lazy day with a few chores and errands, but plenty of time
to accomplish both. Before I do either, let’s delve into the world of music,
shall we?
Disc 1274 is… Tides of a Teardrop/Sing and Play
Traditionals
Artist:
Mandolin Orange
Year of Release: 2019
What’s up with the
Cover?
A somber and indistinct painting of a woman down at a pier. If I were high-cultured
and genteel I might tell you this art is not to my tastes, but since I’m a
blue-collar boy I’ll just say I don’t like it.
How I Came to Know
It: I
have been a fan of Mandolin Orange since 2016 when I discovered them through
their five-star album “Blindfaller” (reviewed back at Disc 1064). I had only heard a
couple of tracks off this new release but decided to take a chance given how
great their previous two records had been.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Mandolin Orange albums. One of
them has to be last, and it turns out it is this one so…#3. Still a bronze
medal at the Olympics.
Ratings: 3 stars
“Tides of a Teardrop” is a subtle record, revealing
itself slowly over multiple listens. I never experienced the wow factor that “Blindfaller”
or “Such Jubilee” caused, but it was sneaky good.
“Tides of a Teardrop” demonstrates high end
production values (which I like) and a bigger, rounder sound than previously. There
are places where they pull in an old school country vibe as well and “Lonely
All the Time” sounded so much like Hank Williams that I had to look twice
at the liner notes before I believe it was a Mandolin Orange original (it is).
Writing songs that sound timeless is a skill that few hold, and which band-member
Andrew Marlin has long mastered.
This country sound was a welcome added dimension
and gave the record more range and variety, although there were times, such as
near the end of “Golden Embers” where the bass audio levels are a tick
too high. Mandolin Orange are a band that plays very light, and any thump in
that environment is even more jarring. This is not to take anything away from bassist
Clint Mulligan, who is a gifted musician and when situated at the right place in
the mix gives a great foundation for each song.
Atop that foundation, the talent of Marlin (mandolin,
guitar, vocals) and Emily Frantz (guitar, fiddle, vocals) has not diminished in
the slightest. These are two of the finest musicians in this or any genre, and
they are equally adept at every instrument they pick up. Marlin has a laid-back
tone to his voice that ambles its heart worn way through each song, and Frantz has
a subtle seventies crooner vibe tucked into the corners of her folksy delivery.
Because of this surfeit of talent, I begrudged
some of that aforementioned production. I wanted things a little starker and
stripped down so I could appreciate all that great musicianship. For this
reason, songs like “Like You Used To” which is crisp and full of
bluegrass jump appealed to me all the more, standing out as they did against a
broader set of stylistic options.
“Mother Deer” is a song about a
deer alternately scampering about a field of clover or lying down by a country
road. It is supposed to be a gentle pastoral, but I found it a little too…dear.
If it’s a metaphor about Emily Frantz (her and Marlin recently had a child) then
it is a strained metaphor and the overly cute play on words doesn’t help.
Much better in the nature metaphor catalogue
is “The Wolves,” which has an insistent energy and some killer transitions
from electric guitar licks to mandolin and back again, romantically referencing
mother Emily to boot. And if you want a pretty pastoral, “Late September”
will give you the same fix with a better song.
My copy of this record is the “deluxe edition”
and included an EP of four traditional songs. Whether it is the source material
or a conscious effort in production, these songs are played in the stripped-down
way I had been longing for, and sound amazing. Standouts are the tragic romance
of “Little Margaret” about a woman who dies and comes back to haunt a man
who chose another woman over her. It is delightfully creepy and apparently dates
back to the 17th century.
“Little Dagger” is also solid, a tale
of a girl who is guarded by her over-protective mother, who sleeps with a
silver dagger to ward off suitors. Joan Baez did a killer version of it in the
sixties (look it up), and Emily Frantz is also more than up to the task. The
song sounds surprisingly like “Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies”
although in the former we have a warning about a psychotic mother, and in the
latter it’s the rakish boy who comes calling that is the real problem.
Even with the additional songs the total for
both albums remains a tasteful 14 tracks and 55 minutes and I recommend the extended version if you have the option. This record is a
worthy entry into Mandolin Orange’s impressive body of work and while I loved
it less than previous records, it is still good and left me excited about what
they’ll do next.
Best tracks: The Wolves, Like You Used To, Late September (and
from the EP): Little Margaret, Silver Dagger
No comments:
Post a Comment