Channelling the ringing and rousing side of Jackson Browne on Sanctuary that, referencing John Prine (“ Handsome Johnny”), balances social and economic inequality (“ when you try to get real/They break you on the wheel”), the lyrics juxtaposing salvation and despair and finding catharsis, redemption and sanctuary in music as he declares “ Can’t get out of my own mind/But I know how to sing about it”. Anchored by lonely piano, sparsely strummed guitar and a south of the border feel, the brief, semi-spoken Angels In The Headlights (“ The stakes are growing longer/Did you play for keeps, kid?/Because you gotta?”) sets up the final track. Meanwhile, the equally laid back and mellow sax-stained Painting Houses, written with Gregory Alan Isakov, finds him “ Down on Colfax again/Lights all shining on the mess we made”, down but not out (“ We’re broke but we’re breathing”), once more looking for the light “They say a new day’s coming, I don’t doubt it” and while he may be “stuck on the roof, still painting houses”, the music is there “As living proof the fire ain’t out yet”. Riding a vague bossa nova rhythm, Glory Strums (Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner), another number about trying to rise above the odds recalls 70s Jim Webb. The song has faint hints of The Band while the line “ people get ready” surely nods to Curtis Mayfield on a theme that again speaks of social inequalities (“ He never worked a day/He never worked an hour/Now they want to make him king/While you’re breaking your back like a slave”).īut there’s a beacon of hope that shines here and throughout the album because, as he says in the warm, gospel-infused If It Comes In The Morning, a co-write with Anaïs Mitchell, “ there’s a new day coming” and we must “ count up our losses/Lay a rose at the crosses/And hope hope is contagious”. The track ebbs away to be replaced by the Southern blues ‘n’ soul of Hardlytown, another call to “ be good to each other” in the face of troubles. He stays in a soulful groove for the falsetto-styled It Will If We Let It, a song about letting your feelings show (“ Do the words have no meaning? They will if we let ’em/But first we gotta say ’em”). Styles shift again for the lazing slow soul title track with its Al Green echoes, a number that starts out addressing a broken relationship and ends speaking of a broken nation (“ The shape of things/Don’t look so good/On the TV there’s a riot goin’ on”) and how healing means “ You gotta let someone in/That’s all that’ll save you”. The mood shifts to a slow burn bluesy funk with Mighty Dollar that serves to remind, should you have forgotten that “ The poor man loses and the rich man wins”, though the narrator here “ Can’t get enough/Of that mighty dollar”, not all, just a little. A countrified slow lope with a Johnny Cash-styled beat and added harmonica, The Great Mystifier is basically about looking for a good love because “ when it’s right/It’s worth the pain”. The song’s Southern country-soul carries a note of hope and defiance as he sings, “ We’ll be fine in the morning/Up with the mountains/Down with the system/That keeps us in chains”. Painted in impressionistic hues and recorded with the band (among them Buddy Miller, Scott Hirsch and Josh Kaufman) in a studio during lockdown, the album begins its journey through themes of growing up, loss and responsibility with Way Back In The Way Back. ![]() Taylor as a retrospective of the past five years of his life. ‘Quietly Blowing It’ is described by Hiss Golden Messenger frontman M.C. ![]() Hiss Golden Messenger – Quietly Blowing It
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