My beloved Boston Bruins are now up 3-1 in their series and looking good. That’s a great way to kick off a long weekend!
Disc 1476 is…. Reliever
Artist: William Prince
Year of Release: 2020
What’s up with the Cover? As a west coast boy the idea of these limitless prairie skies freak me out a little. I need some kind of horizon in my life. Ideally not an event horizon, though. If I have to choose between a black hole and the prairies I will, reluctantly, choose the prairies.
How I Came To Know It: My friend Jen introduced me to this record. I have a lot of friends named Jen, but the one in question will know who I am talking about. So, thanks Jen! I find a lot of music on my own but when someone recommends something I will almost always try it out. You can only discover so much music on your own, my friends. Embrace the buddy system!
How It Stacks Up: William Prince has three albums out, but I only have this one so it can’t really stack up.
Ratings: 3 stars
If you were ever going to risk breaking up with an artist, William Prince would be a good choice. Whereas Lucinda Williams or Natalie Maines will permanently tear you a new one, and immortalize your bastardy in song, William Prince is more likely to say, “so long, and all the best. Sorry it didn’t work out.”
Breakups are a common theme that crops up on Prince’s 2020 album, “Reliever”. “Wasted,” “Heaven and Hell,” “The Gun” and “Always Have What We Had” are all songs about saying goodbye to love, but like most of Prince’s songs on this collection, they have a calm dignity about them.
This calm dignity is true for the whole record, regardless of subject. Prince has a reassuring tone to his voice, a high baritone that is well suited to his lilting country-folk style. Prince gives the impression of one of those people who is so chill they make the people around them chill out just by being near.
The production decisions underscore the approach, mixing piano, guitar and strings into a pool of sound. There is a lot of low-end bass that made my car door vibrate a bit, but also gives the music a sense of import and majesty, without overwhelming the melody.
The album benefits from having strong book ends, with the first two and last three songs the best of the collection. The first tune, “The Spark” is a touching love song, and it is nice to see not all of Prince’s songs are about the end of a relationship. This tune is deeply romantic in a “likely gets played at weddings” kind of way. “Wasted” follows, a song about not letting a day go wasted. Although the song is about abandoning a relationship that is doing exactly that, the tune has an upbeat rhythm and a positive outlook. Sort of, “let’s break up and go and do fun things instead!”
The middle of the record isn’t as strong, and there are moments where Prince gets a bit schmaltzy. All that sentimentality can sometimes slip into that overwise uncle who corners you at the family barbecue to give you life advice.
The record recovers nicely ere the end, however, with “The Gun,” “Heaven and Hell” and “Great Wide Open” closing things out strong. “The Gun” is pure prairie country, and while it has plenty of schmaltzy wisdom (“Doesn’t matter who you love son/If you don’t love yourself some”) but the song has a lovely lilt that lets you forgive its more obvious moments.
“Heaven and Hell” is the best song on the record, with Prince stripping out the piano, and dropping in sparse guitar strums as he captures the tension of a relationship that brings out the worst and best in people, and how that can’t go on forever. The arrangement is common for the record, with strings and drum coming in on later verses, letting your mind slowly get enveloped by Prince’s resonant and reassuring voice.
The record then ends with a lovely elegy, which starts with my favourite stanza on the record:
“I hope you forget me in heaven
I pray it’s just that peaceful
That you stop looking down
Through the holes in the clouds
And keep on baskin’ and healin’”
I love the way Prince’s notion of heaven isn’t people looking down on us, but people so completely at peace they don’t have to. If you’d like a record that leaves you with a taste of that freedom from care, “Reliever” is a good choice. It won’t blow you away, and it may even be a bit hokey in a couple of places, but it will relax your mind and give you peace, and that’s a pretty great way to feel.
Best tracks: The Spark, Wasted, The Gun, Heaven and Hell, Great Wide Open
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