Do these country-tinged solo albums ever really turn out as well as we had hoped? I don’t think so. The disappointment at the beginning of the year was from Jenny Lewis, whose Rabbit Fur Coat was pleasant but never inspiring. The most recent example is Amy Millan and her new disc Honey From the Tombs. It’s not released in the US until August 22, but has been out since the end of May in our friendly neighbor to the north.
I don’t mean to suggest it’s a bad album–it’s not. It’s got some very enjoyable songs, and is certainly worth the money. It’s just that it lacks the transcendental moments that epitomize the best of Stars. The prospect of a full album of Amy Millan (one of my favorite artists and one of the best singers on the planet) had me incredibly excited. I was thinking “best album of the year contender.” Sadly, it did not turn out that way.
Talking about Rabbit Fur Coat a few months ago, I wrote the following:
It is a fairly typical solo album – not particularly different than her work with Rilo Kiley, more an excursion into Americana than a sign of any fundamental shift. It’s pleasant, and at times provides an excellent vehicle for her voice. Still, it suffers from a problem that many encounter when they make their country-influenced solo record – it feels affected. Part of what makes country and soul music so good is that they really dig deep into the human soul. That’s not to say you have to write “serious” songs for your music to be any good, but for the album to really do what it’s meant to do, I think it would have to get more into the nitty-gritty. As it is, it’s just a regular indie album stripped down to acoustic guitars, with a little not-quite-Southern twang and a few country cliches (God, the Devil, love, etc.). It’s not a bad album at all, but it’s also nothing groundbreaking.
That’s pretty much how I feel about this record, too. It’s not bad, but it is…well…a little bit boring. Every note is in place but there just isn’t a whole lot of substance. It has some good moments, and it’s certainly nice to hear her branch out a little bit, but the reality is that many of the best songs are those where she sounds most similar to her work with Stars.
Along those lines, this is the best song, and also the one that could most easily fit easily onto a Stars record. The “days of the week” sequel to Calendar Girl, I suppose (with the closing lines: “Monday, Tuesday so lonely / Wednesday, Thursday only me / Friday, Saturday only me / Here comes Sunday…”), it’s got a great mix of acoustic and electronic, and a voice at the center of it that you can’t help but fall in love with. It’s better than a lot of the songs from Set Yourself On Fire, and that was my #4 record of 2005.
One the other side of things, if the forays into acoustic territory aren’t great, they aren’t bad either, and some are quite nice. Here are a couple of my favorites of those:
The highlight of this one is the little acoustic solo bridge that starts about 40 seconds in. And, while she is clearly no Southern belle, the hint of twang on this one is just what the doctor ordered.
He Brings Out The Whiskey In Me
Here she sounds more lonesome, and her voice is pure as a mountain stream, with that tiniest catch that makes your heart ache. If all the country-type songs on the album were as good as this one, it really might be challenging for best of the year. Sadly, that was not to be. Still, the album we did get is worth a listen, flaws and all.