Welcome back to the CD
Odyssey! Let’s get to the music, shall we?
Disc 1367 is…. Every
Single Star
Artist:
Dori Freeman
Year of Release: 2019
What’s up with the
Cover?
This is a painting by Caitlin Mattisson, and it is absolutely beautiful. I’m
not sure it could be any better, in fact. No, wait, there is one way. How about
a portrait of a cat instead? Cats are better, Dori.
How I Came To Know
It: Thumbing
through the “miscellaneous F” section at the record store. I was already a fan
of Dori Freeman from her previous two albums, but I had no idea she had put out
a new one. And there it was! Not often an artist I like this much sneaks out a
release without me knowing, but it made for a fun discovery. I bought it
unheard based on how much I liked her previous work.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Dori
Freeman albums, which is every one except some very early record from 2011
called “Porchlight.” I should look into finding that, although I suspect it
will be a tough find. Of the three I have, “Every Single Star” comes in third.
It’s good, but the field is just too strong.
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
Nothing matches a great tone. You can hit every single note through five
octaves, but it is tone that touches the heartstrings. Dori Freeman has tone to
spare; a sweet, sparse and straight-from-the heart directness that makes her a
natural storyteller.
All of those qualities remain front and centre on her latest release, “Every
Single Star.” And long-time producer Teddy Thompson has once again do exactly
what you should do when you meet someone with such a gift; get the hell out of
the way and let her shine. The production is as bare as a newly swept wooden cabin
floor. This is also where you can imagine Freeman is singing. She has the frank
openness of a small-towner, and you just know that whether she’s singing as
herself or in character, she brings truth to every line.
On “Every Single Star” you can tell Dori Freeman has found contentment. To
be sure, she still has songs about jilted love and worthless men, and she still
does them well. But she balances these with songs about domestic bliss, two-stepping
with your lover and being a mom.
With this balance, the ‘bad boy’ songs are less about heartbreak and more
about Freeman telling us she is so over that kind of life. The best of these “get
stuffed” songs is the seventies crooner, “All I Ever Wanted” where she evokes
the slow romantic power of Linda Ronstadt in her prime. This is what Freeman
does best, singing songs that have a timeless quality that have you checking
the liner notes to see if they are from 1974, only to find she wrote them
herself only last year. This one features an exasperated chorus of a reasonable
woman who still can’t get her man to meet some basic expectations that is perfect
in its simplicity:
“Would you listen to me when I’m talking to you?
No, I’m not that hard to satisfy
All I ever wanted was a decent man
To give a damn and try.”
The album also has a lot of “I love my child” songs, which isn’t my usual
bag, but on tracks like “Like I Do” it inspires her to some of her best
songwriting. The chorus is a bit saccharine, but you forgive it because Freeman’s
heartfelt love is so unassuming and real. On “I’ll Be Coming Home” it
works less well, but maybe the idea of rushing home to see your kid is such a
foreign concept to my “cats not kids” lifestyle.
“That’s How I Feel” is the strongest track on the record, with
powerful imagery that captures the feeling of being parted from a loved one:
“One can in the back of the fridge
One doe sitting high on a ridge
One man with his foot off the bridge
That’s how I feel when I’m without you.”
I love the way this verse ramps up quickly from the slight amusement of
the abandoned beer can, to the exposed deer on a hill, and eventually the
despair of a man contemplating ending it all. Powerful stuff, and Freeman delivers
it plainly, letting the power of her truth and tone imbue it with all the
loneliness and vulnerability it implies.
If anything, the main thing holding back “Every Single Star” is the sheer
brilliance of the two records that preceded it. Both of those have songs that make
you feel like you’re falling through an ocean of a thousand sighs. The majesty
and enormity of the tune and vocals together simply overwhelm you. “Every
Single Star” is a solid record, and while “That’s How I Feel” comes close,
overall the album lacks these anchor “wow” moments.
For all that, the record is still powerful, and clocking in at a very
minimal 32 minutes, it had me eagerly going back to the start multiple times to
start the journey over again.
Best tracks: That’s
How I Feel, All I Ever Wanted, Like I Do, Go On
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