The High Country [CD]

At times I am reminded that this is Richmond Fontaine's Quadrophenia.

I'm not certain how this will go down with anyone that hasn't already explored Richmond Fontaine's work, because this is the story based theme taken to yet another level that is going to polarise opinions. I guess if you 'get it' it's going to eventually become a monumental moment in the catalogue, but it's going to take time and understanding otherwise. This isn't going to work as a disposable download, because it's no instant fix, so for some it will inevitably get passed by because it seems at first glance to be too much like hard work, which would be a tragic shame.

I can see this becoming one of my favourite RF albums in exactly the way that We Used To Think The Highway... started off as being a bit of a shock, but ended up being a highlight. I still massively miss Paul Brainard's pedal steel in anything less than the forefront, but the orchestral effect and harmonies that work with just a couple of guitars, harmony vocals and Dave's bass is at new heights of beauty and melancholy. Instrumentally, these guys have grown to be as good as any band can get. Dave especially is inspired on this one and plays some parts that make it soar.

And it's now on vinyl too, which is where it should have been all along.

Did I say Quadrophenia? Maybe that should be more Paris, Texas. It's tragic and painful, and it takes time. This is the antidote to reality TV musak. This is music going back to being art, but it's a tough one.
This is Willy Vlautin's Love Supreme.

ps. If you love the sound of a Fender Telecaster through a Fender amp on clean just going into crunch mode, when the ice pick is out but only just scratching at your ears and sending that shiver down your neck, then Chainsaw Sea will make you cry with joy.

As other reviewers have noted the initial challenge for listeners of "The High Country" is one of identity. Opening with a passage of narrative setting the scene for the story that runs through the album over very minimal (but lovely) backing music is not a typical start to an album, even one from a band fronted by an excellent and acclaimed novelist. From the outset "The High Country" could be mistaken for an audio book with a backing track. Whilst there is much more music than narrative in the rest of the album i'm worried that listeners might not get beyond the first few minutes.

I've observed previously that reading one of Vlautin's books is very much like listening to a Richmond Fontaine album in that the mood it conjures is the same. Similarly, listening to this Richmond Fontaine album is very much like reading a Vlautin novel. I suppose the question then is, should books be books and albums albums ? I'm certainly not going to criticise Vlautin and co for this experiment because it is only by such brave efforts that genres shift and art moves on. And I don't mean to imply that this is a disaster in any sense. There are some fine tunes here and the usual Richmond Fontaine (and Vlautin) mood is ever present - a world inhabited by an all-too-real underclass for which nothing seems to go well, for whom bad things are the norm and good things rare. It could be overwhelmingly depressing but, like any genre of art; if it is done well there is pleasure to be had from the accomplishment if not from the stories it tells.

Old fans of Richmond Fontaine putting aside concerns regarding the nature of this project will find plenty to enjoy and tunes such as The Chainsaw Sea are as good as any of the rockier moments in the bands repertoire. The addition of female vocals (as previously used on Post To Wire) are a welcome diversion and lend credibility to the story being told (indeed Deborah Kelly plays the lead character in the story and is great throughout).

My main concern is whether this will have longevity: does the music stand up on its own once the listener knows how the story ends and will the narrative passages just grate after a few listens? I think there are enough good musical moments here to see it through but it may be an acquired taste for some.

Over the last five years Willy Vlautin (singer/songwriter in this veteran alt.country act) has released three exceptional novels. After (or because) of his success in this field, Vlautin & his band seem to have taken their already highly novel-esque approach to songwriting to even greater standards. Imagine if you will an Elmore Leonard novel set to music and your somewhere close.

Stories of murder, illicit romance & drug abuse all feature throughout the album and the piece as a whole works along the lines of a concept album, with each track moving the story along from is rather mundane beginings towards it's bloody conclusion. The story itself tells of a married mechanic by the name of Claude Murray who falls hard for an equally bethroned girl (who remains nameless throughout), their illicit love is the backdrop for the escalating violence that enventually engulfs the record in a sea of blood. Charachters such as Angus King & the girl's one-legged husband (the kid) flesh out the tale, incrementlly adding some back-story until their parts slowly build to become a key component in the whole tapestry of the story.

Is this story important to the record as a whole?. Well, yes and no. In a narrative sense the story really adds a pulsing intensity to the piece. If your reading the lyric sheet as you listen to the LP, then you can gain a sense of relativity towards Claude's situation and begin to despair at the actions he decides to take. But if you were to ignore the story and just listen to the record as you would any other, then it would'nt incur any loss of enjoyment. In fact, if you did decide to ignore the story then you could at least skip the dreadful 'acting' sequencess that plauge the record. Tracks 9 & 11 offer cringe-inducing voice inteludes, these are by far the weakest element of the album and go some way to un-hinging the entire project. By putting a voice to Claude Murray it really breaks the illusion and should hopefully be a lesson learned if the band continue down this narrative-lead path.

What of the songs?, I hear you ask. Well, if your a fan of any of the band's previous work then you should find much to enjoy here. Slow, spacey ballads give way to rollicking, high-drama numbers. The album seems to take a while to build, with many songs passing without much incident. But the slow and patient build-up reaches a real zenith by the time you reach track 11 ('Lost In The Trees') when the LP suddenly bursts into life. Each of the final 6 songs bring something new to the table and could easily be the band's best work since the classic 'Post To Wire' in 2004.

Overall this is a fine release. If the acting sequences go some way to hampering the work as a whole, then repeated plays reveal more and more delights that make those discrepancies all the more easy to forgive. Recommended.