Thursday, January 4, 2018

Sarah Morris - Hearts in Need of Repair (2017)




Written by Mike Yoder, posted by blog admin

Blues, country, folk and hard rock unite into a cohesive whole on Sarah Morris’ latest recording, Hearts in Need of Repair.  Maintaining full momentum on the heels of her prior full-length albums 2012’ Lonely or Free and 2015’s Ordinary Things, Morris’ newest platter expands on the musical ideas, dazzling instrumentation, heartfelt vocals and baroque lyrical inflections tenfold. 

Starting off with a bang, the title track places full emphasis on Morris’ powerful set of pipes and dynamic vocal range.  Stream of conscious verses go into a full bodied chorus where melody is held high above all things.  Multipart acoustic guitar licks, fluid jabs of bass and gentle drumming give off an ebb n’ flow that enraptures the senses and hooks your mind in for the long haul.  The lively “Good at Goodbye” is a bouncy number overflowing with faster-paced acoustic guitar twang given a call to arms by the snappy, brush-played snare drum work.  Bass lines come at you full force and Sarah’s vocals showcase a tough drive which adds danger to the awesome melodicism.  “Cheap Perfume” switches things up musically yet again and takes the peppy country of “Good at Goodbye” and stitches some harder, slower blues swerves into the sonic fabric.  This opening trio of tunes sets the tone for the album to come and things only get better with each passing track. 

“Helium” is straight acoustic folk and is reminiscent of a more elegant take on the Guthrie approach to the genre.  The album’s lead single “Falling Over” has a little more dirt under its nails and bewitches the eardrums with electric guitar swipes, bayou-bred guitar licks borrowed from Ry Cooder’s playback, tribal drumming and a super sultry lead vocal.  It’s a gripping piece with a snaking American Gothic musical backdrop emerging from a dank, bluesy swamp south of the Mason Dixon Line.  Perfectly following it up is the electrified rock, blues and Nashville tinge of “Course Correction’s” achingly harrowing vocals and Morris’ bands white knuckle instrumental twists driving the ball hard over the fences.  The pop-kissed folk of “Empty Seat” might just be the record’s sugar sweetest, most uplifting numbers thanks to multi-tracked acoustics and Morris’ instantly memorable vocal melody. 

The fuzzy, semi-distorted heavy riffs and greasy acoustic blues groove of “Shelter or the Storm” is a gutsy, stormy cut that locks onto a grueling rhythms and incendiary vocals.  While the songwriting always teeters between divine melodies and heavier tropes, this track is probably the most direct in terms of the group’s musical divisions fully uniting.  “Nothing Compares” jettisons the gravelly attack for soft, soulful country folk that’s nearly entirely acoustic aside from sparse electric notations.  “On a Stone” inserts some classical string arrangements and some male/female vocal harmonies into the guitar-centered acoustic beauty.  Curtain calling track “Confetti” is an epic piece that drops in a touch of piano, cabaret pop and other disparate influences onto the head-swimming country folk majesty. 

Hearts in Need of Repair eclipses Sarah Morris’ two prior excellent outings by upping the musical ante in nearly every way.  Top off the dynamic musicianship and Morris’ wonderful vocals is a production job that highlights each song’s many strengths (Morris and the band earned a co-production credit alongside their usual producer Eric Blomquist).  For an old school musical atmosphere without being kitschy retro, it doesn’t get much better than Hearts in Need of Repair.    

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