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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Michael Wollny Trio – Ghosts

Sometimes an instrumental jazz album, in this case by a piano trio coming out of left field, can knit together far more cohesively if constructed around a theme. There is an abundance of that kind of glue trickling down on ‘Ghosts,’ because the unity relates to a number of factors. There is the literal sense in which ghosts are present in the subject matter, mood or atmosphere of these songs. It is an album largely made up of interpretations of other people’s material, opening with George Gershwin’s ‘I Loves You Porgy’ and traveling across a vast terrain of disparate sources; we hear work throughs of Nick Cave’s ‘Hand Of God’, ‘Ghosts’ by David Sylvian and Timber Timbre’s ‘Beat The Drum Slowly’ all of which sit comfortably alongside traditional folk waves in ‘She Moved Through The Fair’ and a nod to jazz heritage with Duke Ellington’s ‘In A Sentimental Mood’. Sat in between are some Michael Wollny originals such as the dramatic ‘Hauntology,’ bringing a binding effect on all the titles presented in this collection.

But this is not the only way in which ghosts are present. There is also Wollny’s personal relationship to the music itself, which he has described as being like ghosts that inhabit a place in his head. There must be truth in this because he is able to fully deconstruct these pieces with a jazzers eloquence, diving deep into their very essence and manipulating them to almost breaking point without ever drifting so far from the DNA that they become something unrelated. It does not end there either, as all the music here is played with a mild hint of the ‘hammer horror,’ especially on songs like the title track that invite this kind of treatment, awash as it is with eerily tense chimes of piano string and a doom-laden church organ sound towards the end. The atmosphere remains intentionally spooky all the way, all three of these players tapping into the dark spiritual potential each of their instruments has to offer.

The overriding reason that this is such a great album remains Michael Wollny’s capacity for melodic exploration. His own ‘Monsters Never Breathe’ for instance is built around a deep dewdrop of a tune that needs no audio effects to enhance the melancholy, the tune he picks out on the piano does it all. The same can be said for the heavy play on Franz Schubert’s ‘Erlkonig,’ this is a ferocious piano pounding with a rhythm section matching the adrenaline all the way before the bubble finally bursts and vanishes. Best of all is the version of ‘Willow Song,’ which you may recall as the standout song on the soundtrack to seventies folk-horror film ‘The Wicker Man.’ This was always a haunting piece but indelibly linked to the dampened acid-folk vein atypical of the post-psychedelia UK scene of fifty years ago. Well that is no longer the case, in fact by appreciating that it needed no great gear shift away from the gothic presence already there, Wollny respectfully stays close the vocal melody of the original, stroking his way around the tune proving that less can be more and ‘Willow Song’ was just waiting for a jazz trio to get their hands on it. ‘Ghosts’ is a wonderful album, play it late at night with a bottle of wine under candlelight and this music, not to mention the odd spirit in the air, will definitely speak to you.

Buy a vinyl copy of the album here: https://www.discogs.com/release/24686237-Michael-Wollny-Trio-Ghosts-

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Lady Wray – Piece Of Me

I do wish that albums like this were not saddled with the label ‘retro’ because it reduces what is, in this case, an outstanding piece of work. All that an artist is doing in producing music with this much analogue style warmth, is treating soul music with the respect it deserves and taking the trouble to do the job properly. Soul music is all about feel and vibe, at its best it should move both your heart and feet and the magic way this style of music connects with people is down to its human element. Its roots are in Gospel and that big church sound is something that clearly resonates with Lady Wray, driving down this road for a while now having initially broke through in the late nineties via Hip-Hop and an audition for Missy Elliot who, in those early years, was Nicole Wray’s Svengali figure. Over the years though she has been pushing hard to find her own voice and it has led us to this, her most fully realized album to date singing about her own life (she gave birth only shortly after this albums completion) with a sound that feels like her very DNA pouring into the grooves.

The album flies straight in with ‘I Do’ and its unexpected bass funk pillars, sudden bursts of gospel backing chorus on speed, vintage trumpet wallpaper and a commanding Lady Wray riding the waves testifying “nothing can trouble these waters.” It informs the listener nothing will be predictable within the oncoming record. ‘Through It All’ kicks the door down with a real uplifting pop style chorus while the bedrock of the track has a kind of used vinyl rawness, it sounds like hip-hop sampling even though it is surely a new track. The LP title song displays the depth of creation in these initially quite simple sounding, instant whip masterpieces. ‘Piece Of Me’ is a song about trying to find enough of yourself for the loved ones who need a lift, an ear or words of advice and encouragement. The vocal itself bleeds with compassion but there is far more layered into the Leon Michels production; flute embellishments bring a natural breeze, there is a pensive heartbeat of a bass whilst echoing piano chords summon up spirituality and as Wray sings “I let you take a piece of me, I hope you get the piece you need” a wrecking crew style guitar part sits just underneath the voice in perfect accompaniment. This is just so classy, right down to the little intervals where the music breathes as everything other than the bass and drum fall away for a moment.

There are some tracks, such as ‘Come On In’, that were developed out of live studio jamming but the important detail is that everything here was worked up into a fully developed song. ‘Where Were You’ is an out-and-out modern R&B classic. With a lyric that asks where an acquaintance was hiding while the singer endured hard times, refusing to sugar coat the turmoil she experienced; “drinking wine in my room all alone, I need a friend, I need a dog, I need a loan. Dreams come true but not for me, you went and kept it all for you. Where were you when I was just sleeping in cars?”. It opens with ten seconds of drumming, setting up a swinging soul beat that does not relent, before a full-blown assault of electric keyboard trills, dramatic melodic string strikes, a piercing fuzz guitar, backing vocals demanding an answer to the question “where were you?” all merely supporting Lady Wray’s emphatic appreciation of the good times she finds herself in. ‘Games People Play’ has a similar feel of time-honoured treasure about it, reflecting on the “silly shit you do when you’re young”. All the way though, this is a standout record in which Lady Wray fully expresses the avalanche of music ideas she possesses, a collection proving the best things really are worth waiting for.

Buy a vinyl copy of the album here: https://www.discogs.com/release/21903340-Lady-Wray-Piece-Of-Me

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Caleb Nichols – Ramon

It is quite a bold move to base a conceptual project around a song character on a classic album then moulding it musically to the style of pop masters like The Beatles. If you want the audience to accept your premise you must at least create something that can sit in tandem with work established as amongst the greatest of all time, otherwise it looks like mere bandwagon riding. In taking the Mr. Mustard character from ‘Abbey Road’ and imagining him as a queer icon, digging into the early twentieth century life that shaped a man who would end up in 1969 living in a park, yelling at people with a ten bob note up his nose, Caleb Nichols set himself that very challenge. Opening tune ‘Listen To The Beatles’ lays Caleb’s cards on the table from the outset, although it should also be noted that a favourable comparison to Elliott Smith would be wholly appropriate with the tone of this song. No shame there, if ever there was an artist who processed and brilliantly reconfigured the bittersweet essence of late sixties Beatle music it was Elliott. ‘Dog Days,’ with its driving rhythms and destabilising section of head voices sitting jarringly underneath this pure pop tune, shows an artist with the range to operate on a similar level. ‘Run Rabbit Run’ realizes the considerable feat of tapping into both McCartney’s love of an elaborate, juicy melody and simultaneously Lennon’s world-weary, laid-back posturing.

The tiny details that the Beatles sprinkled over their own studio work are lovingly applied here; ahead of ‘Ramon’ there is a burst of applause a-la ‘Bungalow Bill’ but Caleb is alert to the power in a contrast between tracks revisiting the Elliott/George Harrison mode and a wonderful dash of melancholy it is too, ending with the most Beatle-esque of shifts into a solitary, gloriously sunny, major chord. And whilst I make these fab comparisons, it must be emphasised that these are all superbly written, totally new songs that are merely working within the same open-minded pop template as the Beatles and executing it with class, there is a major difference between this and a bland pastiche. ‘She’s The Beard’ is a knowingly bonkers slice of rocking psychedelia and a splendid example of what Caleb has done. The strength in the song is all in the musical elements, the lubricious descending chord patterns of the chorus especially; that is the thing that made Beatles music so timeless. Yes, they mastered the art first, but I would argue that if you want to make perfect sounding pop this is still the way to go.

Brevity can be a powerful weapon in this context also and this suite of eleven songs do fly past in thirty-six brilliant minutes. The central character, Mean Mr Mustard, is addressed directly in ‘Captain Custard’ alongside a teetering McCartney la-la-la chorus line while album highlight ‘Jerome’ is a sprightly, earworm of a tune that crystalizes everything wonderful about Britpop across the decades. The treasures do not abate, within moments ‘Mustard’s Blues’ showers the listener in sexy fuzz guitar soloing. That yearning indie-folk element returns on ‘I Can’t Tell You’ but once more, this is a great song almost guilty of getting out too quick, thus underselling the brilliance in the writing. ‘From A Hole In The Road’ stares into some unending dark abyss before falling gloriously into the stars with the words “I still dream of you” spiralling around our heads. We end with a serene and moving acoustic ballad ‘I Fell In Love On Christmas Day’ which, for such a Beatle related project seems apt, love is all you need after all. In our modern musical landscape there is so much Beatle Juice around, there has been for decades and blatant association is not enough in itself to make a great record. But when you approach the task like Caleb Nichols has, like the Beatles themselves did, by making the nuts and bolts of melodic song writing and imagination within your lyrical flourishes the core elements of the work, then brilliant music can still result; that is exactly what has happened with ‘Ramon’, a real hidden gem buried in the debris of 2022 album releases, check it out.

Buy a vinyl copy of ‘Ramon’ here: https://www.discogs.com/release/23691227-Caleb-Nichols-Ramon

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Laura Jurd – The Big Friendly Album

The four-piece band that trumpeter Laura Jurd rose to prominence in, Dinosaur, are a wonderful explosion of expressive free-flowing jazz-fusion occupying their own unique niche. Not exactly heavy, neither is much of their music an easy listen, it is a complex, often fast paced, mash-up of electronic jazz stylings with a progressive rock edge and echoes of Miles Davis late sixties Avant Garde makeover; Dinosaur are a cavalcade of modern and vintage sound that command attention. However, for Jurd and fellow Dinosaur keyboard player (and husband) Elliot Galvin real life has conjured up some magical fusion of its own thanks to their becoming parents. The profound and practical impacts this new phase brought to their music was stunningly displayed within this years Laura Jurd solo project, ‘The Big Friendly Album,’ a record on which Laura has really been able to propel her horizons down far more unrestrictedly melodic avenues.

Still, the story is not as straight forward as that. Firstly, the body of composition presented on the album was worked up in the early months of 2020, prior to the couple’s baby even being part of the conversation. Secondly, Laura had the name of the project in mind from the outset, this was always designed as an exploration into more traditionally built music with a big jazz band sound. She envisaged something that was joyful, a music that invited you in and when waving goodbye, it ensured you left with a smile on your face. Which leads me to one further misconception one might take from the records title, that this is anything but a children’s record. That said, it is jazz music of a kind that would not send children (or jazz detractors) diving for the nearest exit. This music is all sublime and pulls off the rare trick of appearing simple whilst there is so much occurring deep within those grooves.

‘Sleepless’ is a fitting example (a knowing title that speaks to many new parents no doubt), it is built around an insistent electric bass riff played by Ruth Goller. That, along with some guitar parts that work around the same pattern with rather rock sounding references, provide a spine of a pattern that imbeds into your head even as the hooks break down midway through, making space for some Jurd soloing and elegant piano flourishes, when the riffing returns you barely notice so much is going because everything is so easy on the ear. These juxtapositions feature throughout, the band do indeed offer a big, almost New Orleans-esque, sound in places but they contrast it with jagged intervals where Jurds wide ranging progressive background comes into view. She has hinted in recent interviews that this thread to her work will not be a one-off, the onset of parenthood necessitates a more ad-hoc grip on creative spaces in both her and Galvin’s lives. This can lead to less deliberation over decisions, a greater instinct and inevitably sometimes a more immediate sounding, accessible end product. That is exactly what we have with ‘The Big Friendly Album,’ a collection that wins you over thanks to the joy and delight of its creation heard pouring out of your speakers, it also happens to be rather fine music deserving of a large audience.

Buy a vinyl copy of the album here: https://laurajurd.bandcamp.com/album/the-big-friendly-album

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Molly Tuttle & The Golden Highway – Crooked Tree

‘Crooked Tree’ is the record where Molly Tuttle goes full tilt into classic American Bluegrass, a fact which might raise concern that a once promising songwriter is running low on ideas, turning to the safety zone of tradition. Nothing could be further from the truth though because Tuttle has made the essential Bluegrass release of the year, thanks to her fresh approach from a songwriter’s perspective. I write a lot about folk music and one of the things that I struggle with in that genre is overly respectful representation of centuries old material. I believe that it is essential to learn and be inspired by music of the past, but if you are going to create something new it still must have a spark of emotional resonance in the present-day world you live in. Molly Tuttle understands this and has made a wonderful album in which the backbone is the pile of new song ideas she had stacking up.

Having committed to the Bluegrass sound though, she chose well in attacking it with authenticity. To that end, the record was produced with as many musicians in the room at the same time as possible, playing live and capturing the kind of raw and real sound that Bill Monroe would have been proud of. It is essentially a collaborative genre too and so there is space in this music for players and pickers who want to join in, just as there are an abundance of big-name guest appearances throughout. Margo Price is an ideal foil on the fast picking ‘Flatland Girl’, The Old Crow Medicine Show bring their trademark back porch homely charm to ‘Big Backyard’ whilst Gillian Welch seems suitably bow-legged and joyous on ‘Side Saddle’.

That the album is credited to Molly Tuttle & The Golden Highway feels appropriate too, even though Molly’s song writing is the basis for these tunes they are clearly shook into life by the loose and celebratory ensemble playing. In true folk tradition there are songs that sound familiar from vintage LP’s but are sufficiently deconstructed and re-assembled to legitimately stand as new pieces of work. ‘Dooley’s Farm’ for example might be familiar to some as a traditional song played by the Dillard’s but this, as does everything here, has enough of Molly’s individualistic touch to make it her own. That she can head down this Country road and take this music on a wholly relevant modern excursion will hopefully inspire continuation on this stimulating route. Stand out tune ‘Castilleja’, with it’s fast picking, bitter-sweet yearning melody should be enough to justify that direction. But then the best artists are hard to predict, they follow where the music takes them and you sense that Molly Tuttle is of that breed. Not one to worry about meeting expectations or fitting in, as she sings herself on the title track, “I’d rather be a crooked tree”.

Buy a vinyl copy of the album here: https://www.discogs.com/release/23206826-Molly-Tuttle-2-Golden-Highway-Crooked-Tree

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Loudon Wainwright III – Lifetime Achievement

Much like the man he was compared to early in his career, Bob Dylan, Loudon Wainwright III composes new music these days in full awareness of his age. He even opens this fine album with that classic acoustic guitar and harmonica combination but, where Dylan is more abstract in his musings, Loudon cannot help but flex his humour muscles even when tackling potentially difficult subjects. It has been this way with Loudon over the course of a fifty-plus year recording career, the tendency to balance personal life confessionals with dry wit evident on the early song ‘Rufus Is A Tit-Man,’ a meditation on fatherhood with a title that grabbed wry attention. Everything remains intact in 2022 as he reflects his own longevity and the mysteries of the unknowable answers on ‘Lifetime Achievement’. The remarkable thing is how he can still produce the goods to as high a standard as ever today, this is easily up there among Loudon’s essential records.

The overall effect of the heavyweight ponderings and the laughs is stunning, with lines that reference farting whenever he sneezes and how a family vacation should be a holiday from your closest family, (sample lyric “I’m gonna leave the fucking family at home”, the song ends with a Jean Paul Sartre quote “hell is other people”) balancing anxieties like the uncertainty at your time of passing in ‘How Old Is 75?’. When you consider that the lyrics inform us of his own fathers passing was at the age of 62 whilst his mother made it to 74, you must accept this is far from glib, he really is diving into these thoughts. He never stays long in a dark place though, check the light hearted wisdom imparted on closer ‘Fun And Free’ where memories of lawn mowing as a youngster are awoken by the same activity today with a carefree zest that suggests we “spend life like it’s a spree, ‘cause it’s one and done, that’s it son, so do it for fun and free”. Loudon sings with universal understanding about the biggest personal traumas in life, making you smile and prompting a tear with equal frequency, he remains a rare kind of talent.

Buy a copy of the album here: https://www.discogs.com/release/24372683-Loudon-Wainwright-III-Lifetime-Achievement

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Andrew Bird – Inside Problems

Having initially played in the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Kevin O’Donnell’s Quality Six then his own Bowl Of Fire, Andrew Bird continued in the 2000’s to gain solo attention as the guy with an act based around technical wizardry. He played multiple instruments, building up loops and layering them in a way that was impressive in its execution, especially as Bird was no mere strummer on guitar, he had a far more refined construction in texture and rhythm. He played guitar and banjo in the pickers style, conjuring up lots of intricacy in the moods, his violin playing was extremely expressive and he possessed some appealing individualist quirks such as a tendency to add nuance with whistled segments. Still, the problem with a performer like that is the technique can often be more attention grabbing than the music.

However, over the last ten years particularly, this has not been the case with Andrew Bird. For me it was around the release of 2012’s ‘Break It Yourself’ that he took his songwriting to another level and since has created some quite wonderful records and fine tuned his methods to a fine grain. The songs have soul, the music is always melodically sensational, lyrically there is a delight in both rhyme play and wit as occasionally a direct punch to the heart will pin you to your seat. He generally sticks to his preferred palate of instruments but they are used to their fullest possible range, the guitars and banjos provide both groove, sonic punctuation and flare while the violin playing can sound anything from mournful in a tender solo, savage when attacked with grated aggression or as lifting and lilting as an orchestra when the song demands. And he still has a pleasing habit of breaking off from singing to add an aching whistle here and there too.

This years ‘Inside Problems’ album emphatically continues this unfolding catalogue with one of his most essential collections yet. These are songs that have been composed diligently and fully realized, they sit together as a full record so well. Highlights beam out from every track such as the euphoric “oh my god I just got born” conclusion to the title song or the shuffling singalong hooks in ‘Lone Didion.’ The stasis sung of in ‘Fixed Positions’ sounds terminal at the start, especially in tone, but the issue is lightened a touch with a line like “if you’re screwing up your face won’t it always stay that way” before progressing, via a rather chirpy whistle, to a stirring climax searching for the resolve to break said fixed positions. During ‘Eight’ there is a heavenly break down where a repetition of plucked, echoing strings lay a bedrock for Andrew to cut loose on the violin with a solo improvisation that is both dramatic and haunting. But in the end, experience this album from start to finish as you should and you will find your own hidden treasures, for the music of Andrew Bird has them waiting for you in droves.

Buy a vinyl copy of the album here: https://www.discogs.com/release/23483408-Andrew-Bird-Inside-Problems

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Van Morrison – What’s It Gonna Take?

Van Morrison is on fire at the moment, there is something in the urgency that his recordings possess that suggest an artist both in tune with the sounds that feed his soul and assured at his own strengths as a performer. A legend who flips a middle finger to categorization, his sound has always been a roots-based seed feeding from the heart of R&B, Soul, Jazz, Folk, Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll which, when watered into full bloom, delivers instantly identifiable Van Morrison sound thanks to that deep, stirring voice. There are times on this album when he fuses all those inspirations, all that rolling and tumbling heartbeat of the mid twentieth century Western music culture explosion, in the most breath-taking fashion. ‘Money From America’ is one such example, with its wild mercury organ funk, pressure cooker blues guitar hooks and glass raising bar room testifying, this is impossible not to get swept up by. ‘Nervous Breakdown’ has a classic feel with its minute long build up and Van the bandleader toasting the arrival of each instrument. Same too with ‘Not Seeking Approval,’ which has some of the most sultry, soulful licks Van has ever committed to round wax. But then he tells us in that same song “they say my name is muck” and that fact too is hard to argue against, Van is making this beautifully matured music to a chorus of indifference in some quarters thanks to the uncompromising, often controversial opinions he has been putting out since 2020.

Right from the opening track ‘Dangerous’ he is pounding his fist reiterating that he has been asking for evidence for over a year. So clearly, this raises immediately the issue of Van’s well covered forthright opinions about Covid, vaccinations and the recurring lockdown measures we all endured. Now personally speaking, I took the governments data on face value, got myself fully vaccinated and complied with all lockdown regulations. However, if Van has a more suspicious position on all this, got himself wound up in frustration by events and is now using that anger to fire up his music making I can live with that. I do not need to agree with everything he says and am not ashamed to say that there are times on this record where his protestations strike a chord. On ‘What’s It Gonna Take?’ he sings “government doesn’t represent us at all” and in a time where striking working classes are portrayed as greedy by the Downing Street elite I cannot argue against Van’s statement. Van is nailing his colours to the mast and flying the flag for not sitting on the fence, no bad thing in my opinion and trying to paint him as a lunatic conspiracy theorist is way too reductive. He just sounds hungry, determined to still live life to the full and I admire that do not give a crap attitude. Furthermore, is this really such a different Van to the one championed in the past?

Also, a track like ‘Can’t Go On This Way,’ which vents exasperation at the cabin fever induced by extended lockdown periods, surely just put into song a feeling that millions were going through. OK so Van runs the risk of sounding like an over pampered star unaware of his own good fortune, but he is just reflecting a feeling many experienced. If it is in his nature to throw suspicion around and question people when he feels boxed in like this, so what? That is who he is, that is the person responsible for a good deal more classic albums than the average artist can boast in a career and he does what he does with all imperfections and character failings part of the package. In fact, it is when a performer starts ironing out the less refined, palatable aspects of their being, creates with a thought to what the public might approve of rather than honestly articulating, that they start to lose it. I may not find myself in a mutual agreement society if I were sat down with Van Morrison, but I dare say the same would apply to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell or anyone I have held in high esteem for decades. The only thing that should matter is that Van Morrison, in 2022, is still making some of the most vital, inspired and focused music of his extensive career and I can say sincerely, ‘What’s It Gonna Take?’ is one of his great albums.

Buy a vinyl copy of the album here: https://www.discogs.com/release/23302058-Van-Morrison-Whats-It-Gonna-Take

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Kokoroko – Could We Be More

Like many others, for me it was the 2018 album ‘We Out Here’ that alerted me to the delights of Kokoroko. That album was a collaborative effort recorded over three days by the various groups and collectives who, at the time, were being lauded as the exciting new heartbeat of jazz music to be found in London. Myriad amounts of the players were involved with many of the other bands on the roster, in fact the intermingling was pretty hard to keep up with at first, but over the past five years a raft of the musicians rose to the kind of wider prominence they deserve. The two most prominent members of Kokoroko were flugelhorn player Sheila Maurice-Grey and especially saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi who has enjoyed an ever-increasing profile in part, but not only, thanks to her wonderful work within the SEED Ensemble.

It could be down to snowballing opportunities to create within other set-ups that led to us waiting until 2022 for the first Kokoroko album. It says something of the esteem in which their contribution to ‘We Out Here’ was held, that expectation for this debut never ebbed away over four years, but then ‘Abusey Junction’ with its reported forty-nine million YouTube plays really was the outstanding track on that double record. It somehow encapsulated all that was riveting about the whole scene; the multiculturalism, the inclusiveness and the dedication to creating something magical in an improvisational space. That they could do this and end up with music that does not sound bland, repetitive or indulgent speaks to the proficiency of their musicianship.

The thing is though, for all the talk of the London Jazz Scene and the elongated back story of how the record came to be, when you get to the music it comes down to the simple fact that there are great tunes to be found here. ‘Age Of Ascent’ is a fine example, the rhythm has a nice little kick to it for sure, the electronic keys and vibes are, appropriately given the title, elevatory but the tune played on that saxophone and trumpet is simply lush. It sounds like a vintage jazz classic, a melody straight from the Blue Note or Prestige vault, but no, this is the central sound of Kokoroko and the reason why this album was so anticipated. Likewise, ‘Dide O’ which is carried by some Afrobeat guitar textures and divided by some lush vocal chapters, again it is those horn motions that take the tune into the realms of the celestial. It is thanks to Kokoroko and their growing number of allies that jazz music can legitimately claim, in 2022, to be the most vital and progressive music of modern times. As the band so rightly sing themselves, “something’s going on, something’s happening now.”

Buy a vinyl copy of the album here: https://www.discogs.com/release/24099788-Kokoroko-Could-We-Be-More

https://open.spotify.com/album/48e8LFqiVUxumlXDIVyNYl?si=BRqQh5YKTxOYDb1KFJyJ8A

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Fruit Tree Records Of The Year, Records of 2022

Erin Rae – Lighten Up

I have heard many albums over the years that reach for that golden Laurel Canyon sound of the late sixties. It evokes such specific imagery, so many wide chasms of warm open aired relaxed vibes, good time feelings that stir your soul and retrieve by proxy memories of sun-drenched harmonious times. What defines that sound is less specific, but it has basic, singer-songwriter values with lush acoustics, fuzzy guitar embellishments, a little gentle rhythm, harmony and sunshine, the outdoor space for the music to breathe is pretty vital too. But the thing that so many artists have missed out over the years, something which in absence can make a Laurel Canyon sounding album quite a dull affair, is great songwriting. And that is where Erin Rae has succeeded with her 2022 sophomore album, arriving three years after her debut ‘Putting On Airs’, for she has delivered an album that is positively rammed with great songs.

For evidence of this just listen to one of the many stand out tracks, ‘California Belongs To You’; decorated as it is with desolate mountain range guitar solos, propelled as it is by a moving shuffling rhythm, descend as the chorus does in an aching motion, it is all mere magic dust sprinkled over a superb turning away song, a piece that recognizes how a location can remain indelibly linked to a person you associate it with. Within the lyrics mentioning sun tans and the sea is an instant reference point in which, with the spot-on contributions of Erin’s collaborators of this album, the sound and classic Laurel Canyon era are strikingly evoked. This is largely thanks to producer Jonathan Wilson, a purveyor of expansive psychedelic country himself with much kudos as a facilitator, he really knew how to find the sonic scenes that these tunes needed to flourish in.

Listen to ‘Cosmic Sigh,’ a floating gem that is as accurately titled as a rock song using the word ‘rock’ in its title, here the tune gently awakens to a panorama of strings and gorgeous widescreen production. The range of textures throughout marry up so well with Erin’s own assessment that this record represents her “accepting her humanness.” She is certainly spreading her wings in composition and feeling confident enough to take the songs in whatever musical direction the seed of inspiration dictates. Consequently, we get delightful shifts in tone, like in the way ‘Cosmic Sigh’ is followed by the pumping country-pop feelgood triumph that is ‘Modern Woman,’ a great number that punches out at ideas of womanhood past their sell by date, “come see a modern woman” indeed.

Kevin Morby shows up to share the vocals on ‘Can’t See Stars,’ very much a heavy hitter in the Americana scene over the past ten years and not one to unquestioningly put his name to just anything, his stoned-sounding presence lends a cool grounded counterpoint to a tune looking towards the sky. Elsewhere the presence of names like Jake Blanton and Drew Erickson provides Erin with the tools to fully explore these songs and because they are such fully formed compositions, everyone involved seems to up their game for the good of the songs. It results in an album that has remained one of the records of the year thanks to its consistency, the absence of weak links and the eloquence in the playing and expression. Final words should go to Erin Rae herself, who claims “this one is about blossoming, opening up and living a little more in the present moment. Accepting what it is to be human.” ‘Lighten Up’ invites the listener to take time, breathe deep and listen; the pay back for making that commitment is one of the standout cosmic American music collections of the year.

Buy a vinyl copy of ‘Lighten Up’ here: https://www.discogs.com/release/22035103-Erin-Rae-Lighten-Up

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