12/26/2023 0 Comments Son volt hearts and minds video![]() ![]() Jason Friedmanĭurand Jones & The Indications: Private Space Happier Than Ever ranges between club ragers, personally empowering pop and all-out confessionals, marking a distinct shift from the singer’s knowingly playful debut that pays off wonderfully. Bold risks, like the multiple sections of “GOLDWING” or the 2000s neo-soul revival of “Billie Bossa Nova,” pay off in part because of the artist’s incredible capacity for building emotional tension within her lyrics. In some of the most dynamic, emotionally complex and brilliantly produced music of her career thus far, the singer copes openly with the strain her recent superstardom has had on her relationships, her sexuality and her path in life. Don’t just take our word for it-hear all of today’s top-priority releases for yourself below.įollowing the chart-topping, reputation-establishing charm of 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? sounds like a monumental task, but on Billie Eillish’s new album Happier Than Ever, she makes it seem effortless. At the tippy-top of Paste Music’s minds are the latest albums from TORRES, Yola, Son Volt and Durand Jones & The Indications, but new records from Billie Eilish and Isaiah Rashad aren’t to be missed, either, and nor is Prince’s posthumous Welcome 2 America, a previously unreleased record that resonates all the more over a decade after it was shelved. ![]() Son Volt is far from weary on this outing, instead brimming with a refreshing, vitality that isn’t always part of their shtick.July’s final New Music Friday just might be its biggest and brightest, with an array of appointment-listening-level releases vying for our collective eardrums. The band does a wonderful job of making us appreciate the songwriting talents of Sahm and his tremendous gift for hook-filled melodies, riffs, and choruses. ![]() The album includes intro and outro segments with phone messages Doug left for Jay Farrar over the years and begins so infectiously with “Sometimes You’ve Got to Stop Chasing Rainbows” followed by “Beautiful Texas Sunshine.” Other highlights include “Yesterday Got in the Way,” “Dynamite Woman,” “Poison Love” and for those who hearken to the Farrar-led classic Son Volt sound “Seguin” and the stripped down acoustic closer “It’s Gonna Be Easy.” More importantly, Farrar selected a great bunch of tunes. While it first seemed remarkable to these ears that Son Volt could play these tunes without an accordion, their instrumentation doesn’t stray too far from Sahm’s ‘60s configurations of guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bajo sexto, dobro, drums, and piano. Sahm himself was apparently an accomplished steel guitar player by the age of five and later taught himself to play fiddle and mandolin. Suffice to say that Sahm kept esteemed company. As a side note, that version had Flaco Jimenez on accordion, Augie Meyers on piano, David Bromberg on dobro, and Andy Statman on mandolin. Not that this writer professes to be all that knowledgeable about Sahm’s catalog, but the only tune recognized was “Poison Love,” not written by Sahm but having appeared in a collection of his greatest hits. Brad Sarno guest on pedal steel for “Beautiful Texas Sunshine” and Gary Hunt on fiddle for “Dynamite Woman.” Farrar doesn’t take the usual route however and instead largely picks Sahm’s overlooked songs in the period from the late ‘60s through the ‘70s. Here, the revamped Son Volt with all members in tow including drummer Mark Patterson and new guitarist John Horton, honor Sahm with a dozen tunes. Sahm sang with Farrar on the final Uncle Tupelo album Anodyne (1993), a landmark album in the alt-country movement, when they recorded Sahm’s “Give Back the Key to My Heart.” Far more importantly though, were Sahm’s contributions to blurring the genres of rock, R&B, country, folk, Tex-Mex and psychedelia, some of which endures through bands like The Bottle Rockets, Tremoloco, and even the Band of Heathens. In any case, Farrar had a personal connection as both a friend and a mentor with the larger-than-life character Doug Sahm who had a brief fling with fame with his Top 40 hits fronting the Sir Douglas Quintet. Maybe it’s because bassist Andrew DuPlantis who takes lead vocal on two tracks, and to a lesser extent, keyboardist/guitarist Mark Spencer sings with Farrar on most selections so that we’re hearing more than one voice most of the time. The lonely, weary, burnished voice of leader Jay Farrar does not dominate the sound in the way it does on most of the band’s offerings. ![]() Surely, it’s a tribute to the Tex-Mex stylings of Doug Sahm but that’s not the point. Day of the Doug is the Son Volt album that doesn’t sound like a Son Volt album until we reach the last two tracks. ![]()
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