Beautifully Optimistic
This is one of the best debut albums I have heard in a long time. Ray Lamontagne has a voice overflowing with passion and fire, igniting his acoustic folk-rock sound where similar artists fall short of the mark. Lamontagne’s voice conveys deep emotion and manages to expand the song beyond the mere lyrics; sometimes it caresses, hear the chorus of ‘Shelter’, sometimes it dances the melancholy dances expected by such a singer-songwriter, hear ‘Narrow Escape’, but all the time it is laced with the real feelings of heartbreak. Despite this, Lamontagne somehow manages to create an optimistic sound that endures throughout. Possibly the greatest achievement of this album is the projection of an undying belief that a better future is just around the corner. Many artists sitting astride this genre of music fail to project such an image, and it is for this reason that I think perhaps Ray Lamontagne will appeal to the un-initiated masses and pull a few more into the folk rock snare.
The CD opens with ‘Trouble’, a bouncy tune that introduces the listener to Lamontagne’s voice, with it’s slight tremolo and passionate breaks. One can imagine the glow of his eyes as he swoops for the chorus and bares his soul. ‘Shelter’ reduces the tempo a little and continues in the manner of ‘Trouble’. The standard instrumentation found throughout the record is still here, with Lamontagne’s acoustic guitaring accompanied variously by strings, bass, piano and percussion. As far as songs go, this is one of the most beautiful I have heard.
‘Hold You In My Arms’ toys with the loud-quiet dynamic, with almost aggressive guitar chords bursting from gentle strumming, hinting at some underlying anger in a song that appears to be about eternal love.. However, Lamontagne tells us that ‘Love is a poor man’s fool..’ Hear this song as you will. ‘Narrow Escape’ features an introduction played on harmonica and percussion even more minimal than much of the rest of the album. A female voice is providing by Jennifer Stills and builds beautiful harmonies with Lamontagne’s husky stylings. ‘Burn’ is a solo-effort from Ray Lamontagne and his guitar. This strikes me as the low point of the album in terms of mood and feeling rather than in terms of quality of song, but still the hopeful undertones endure and bring the listener to ‘Forever My Friend’, which, placed so perfectly next to ‘Burn’ rises as the high point of the album. A whole lot more is happening here musically, the guitar has brightened up, the percussion bounces on the hi-hat and the bass holds the whole song together, where Lamontagne’s voice is not present.
‘Forever My Friend’ fades out into the piano and strings introduction of ‘Hannah’, a song about falling in love. Lamontagne is more than a creative guitarist and singer; his lyrics are some of the most inspiring poetry existing in modern music. ‘All of my wounds the turned to gold and I kissed your hair,’ he sings to Hannah, who could quite possibly be the luckiest girl in the world. ‘How Come’ introduces an overdriven guitar sound over the standard acoustic chords, the tempo is raised here and a sound nearer to rock than folk is created. This is a definite stand out track, and the first song on the album I found myself singing along to. This song is a challenge to everything bad in human existence.. ‘How come I can’t tell the free world from a living hell?’ sings Lamontagne in a similar way to that in which Zack De La Rocha may yell ‘Rise up!’ or something similar. The overdriven guitar offers a blues-rock solo over the fadeout and ‘How Come’ becomes the penultimate track ‘Jolene’.
Apparently Lamontagne has bored of Hannah in the last track, or perhaps Jolene is Hannah’s middle name. Perhaps, Ray Lamontagne is simply an artist and Hannah and Jolene are just names. Whichever is true, ‘Jolene’ is a return to the softer sounds heard earlier on the record, with prominent piano riding Lamontagne’s acoustic guitar. The album winds down with ‘All The Wild Horses’. A slow, string intro brings the listener to Lamontagne’s soft, minor key voice with which the album is gently sung out. Perhaps the songs are a little too similar for some peoples’ tastes; I know that to some people, acoustic guitar music often doesn’t offer enough diversity for them to get their teeth into. Some people will find this, dare I say it, boring, the majority of people will not; the song order has obviously been thought about to ensure the bouncier, more up-tempo songs fall among the softer tracks and the overall effect is an album that is not in the slightest bit difficult to listen to.