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Memories Are Now
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Barnes and Noble
Memories Are Now
Current price: $15.99
Barnes and Noble
Memories Are Now
Current price: $15.99
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Size: CD
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's fourth proper solo LP and first for
is entitled
, a reference to the concept of seizing the day. With
back to produce, the album encompasses much of the range of her previous output, which routinely challenged the boundaries of indie rock and folk, encouraging a label more along the lines of unconventional singer/songwriter. It follows her likewise free-spirited but more rustic duet album with
,
, by less than a year, and any new fans from that collaboration may well delight in its expressiveness right alongside established fans. The empowering title track, which opens the album, is spare yet pointed. Accompanied only by a pulsing bassline, tambourine, and
's own backing vocals, it plays like an offbeat anthem for the newly self-reliant ("Clear the way/I'm coming through/No matter what you say"). The whole record, in fact, is injected with a heavy dose of gumption and irreverence, a spirit that, deliberate or not, seems timely in the sociopolitical climate of early 2017. Speaking of sociopolitical, the playful "Simon Says" takes on mindless consumerism with campfire immediacy and a twisted twang ("When you don't pick the words you choose/Involuntarily advertising for their enterprise"). Meanwhile, "Songs of Old" is a folky chamber piece with arguably the album's best example of
's distinctive way around a melody or three within a single, haunting tune. Efficient arrangements mark this track and the rest, so much so that when "Unsaid" arrives with electric guitar riffs, more expansive percussion, and polyrhythms, it hits like a prism. With any due credit to
, who not only produced but shares instrument duty here,
is exquisite-sounding while it contends with a songwriter who not only has a few things to get off her chest, but seems to make a call to action. With lyrics that reject "that old device called fear," some will find the inspiration to be catching. Trivia of note: none other than
plays harmonica on "Cut Connection." ~ Marcy Donelson