Up early and (as usual) feeling inspired by the power of music. Whether today finds you distraught or down or uncertain, or joyful, hopeful and inspired I can assure you, there’s a song for that. Go put it on. But first, read this music review.
Disc 1868 is… Cruel Joke
Artist: Ken Pomeroy
Year of Release: 2025
What’s up with the Cover? Ken Pomeroy in the flesh. Well, actually it is just a photo, but Pomeroy’s gaze is so powerful and immanent, it’s like she’s in the room with you, staring into your soul.
That place of raw exploration and discomfort is where art lives, and if you are intrigued by the experience the cover offers, you’re going to love the music inside even more.
How I Came To Know It: I read a review of her on a website I’m partial to called Americana Highways. If you like folk, country and americana music, then Americana Highways is a great place to discover bands you might not read about on bigger music platforms.
You can also do that right here on “A Creative Maelstrom”, of course.
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Ken Pomeroy record, but I have a feeling I’m going to have a long and fulfilling relationship with her music for years to come.
Ratings: 5 stars
Growing up in rural coastal British Columbia, I take solace in the closeness of dense coastal rainforests, jagged inlets and lush understory. Ken Pomeroy’s music features none of those things, but hearing her paint pictures of the quiet solitude of the Oklahoma plains and foothills, I felt blanketed by the same soothing, contemplative spirit. Or put simply, this record will you chill you out and make you think.
Pomeroy straddles the line between folk and country, which is the perfect vehicle to deliver songs that are intensely personal, and grounded in natural space and place that puts substance and gravitas to her self-exploration. Like all great works of art, “Cruel Joke” taps into something that makes the personal into the universal.
If you are looking for experimental sounds and new melodic structures, you won’t find that here. You’ll get similar song structures on any number of other singer-songwriters out there, but like anything, it is all in the execution.
Pomeroy’s vocals have sneaky range, climbing high and bright, or descending into a low register whisper. Whatever serves the song. I haven’t heard someone instinctually manage a vocal with such deliberate ease since Heather Maloney did it ten years earlier on “Making Me Break” (reviewed at Disc 1200 and also a 5-star record).
Pomeroy is no slouch on the acoustic guitar either, again not engaged in any Django Reinhart level innovation, but just playing with grace and feeling that lets you sit down into a song and let it take you on a journey.
Lyrically, this record is not only compelling at the individual song level, but Pomeroy goes a step further, weaving common imagery through the record that makes the full listen a journey bigger than each tune.
Featured prominently are images of coyotes, wolves, and dogs. The common use of canine imagery allows Pomeroy to move from the wild to the domestic and back again all the while internalizing each animal into her own state of mind.
On “Pareidolia” the coyote walks against the wind, capturing the spirit of feeling wild but constrained at the same time. Pomeroy blends this natural imagery with everyday rural experiences like “talking about money” and “switching to flats,” even that last image connecting footwear to a broader exploration of her environment. Even the concept of pareidolia –seeing faces or images in random places like clouds – speaks to the interconnection of the human experience with the natural one.
On “Wrango” Pomeroy writes a love song to her dog. I’m a cat person and I’m even a little bit scared of dogs but listening to “Wrango” I loved that dog. “Wrango” features some of Pomeroy’s sweetest vocals and guitar picking, and lyrics like “I’ll turn off the bedroom light/’Cause that sparkle in your eyes is bright enough to light the sky” that will melt your heart.
“Coyote” is a duet features the considerable talents of fellow Oklahoman John Moreland, and the nexus of the thematic blend of animal and emotion. Evocative lyrics like:
“Honey look out for the coyote
Sleuthing around the hens
Meet him with a stare and don’t turn away
If you don’t he’ll be back again”
On the surface is advice on keeping your chickens safe, but more deeply it is confronting your inner self, with all the strengths and the faults you’ll find there, and not turning away. Like the cover of the album, it’s an intense stare that rewards you if you have the strength to hold it and let it take you where, deep down, you know you need to go.
I’ve listened to this record a half dozen times, and on each run through, I find a new layer of exploration. Where Pomeroy is drawn to earth and big sky my West Coast mind goes to the sea as my equivalent, her music drawing me out into deeper water to the point that my feet can no longer touch the bottom, but where the surrender to that expanse is freeing and restorative.
Best tracks: all tracks
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