Tift Merritt - Another Country
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Free Music Notes for Another Country
Free Music Review: Good listening sound
Hit: 5 Stars
This is this singer best outing. I can listen to it over and over again.Free Music Review: COMFORTING, GRACIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL
Hit: 4 Stars
If ever there were a convention of performing artists, Tift Merritt would probably spend the evening helping to serve the food, then staying afterward to help with the clean-up. There is something unfailingly polite about her style, so much so that she is an anomaly in an industry full of misogynists, hedonists, crybabies and creeps. "Another Country" captures that niceness with a series of songs that are unfailingly gracious in their gentle use of melodicism. It is extraordinarily comforting to hear an album as well-adjusted as "Another Country," but that can also be part of the problem. In real life, it is the troublemakers who attract all of the attention, and it is no different in the music industry. Disaffected misfits with bad attitudes and re-hab issues get the press and top the charts, and it is difficult to hear Tift Merritt above the din of whining screamers in need of medication, therapy, or both.
"Another Country" is the result of an artist burned out from too much touring. In the liner notes, Tift (I think she would find it distasteful if I used her formal name) writes that she "had lost track of the miles (she) had traveled." To break her stride, she spent some time in Paris, familiarizing herself with a new culture and a new group of friends. The experience liberated her, and inspired her to new heights of creativity. This is an album full of personal observations from lessons learned, with intimate arrangements that focus on the strengths of her touring band, augmented by guitarists Doug Pettibone and Charlie Sexton. As a collection, the songs fit like a well-worn sweater. It is the aural equivalent of a woman finding a sense of comfort in the life she has chosen for herself.
Most parents know that necessity dictates them to spend most of their time and effort working with the `problem' child, while the well-adjusted sibling gets overlooked. It may take some time for you to come around to listening to Tift Merritt's new album, but when you do, it will wrap you with a sense of comfort and relief, and it will probably make you smile. B+ Tom Ryan
Free Music Review: Delicate, beautiful, excellent songwriting
Hit: 4 Stars
This is the first Tift Merritt album I've tried. I am a big fan
of the crop of excellent "Alt-Country" singer/songwriters like Kathleen Edwards and Sarah Harmer. Somehow, I stumbled across the "Broken" track and it was jangly and hookey enough to convince me to try this out.
I'm glad I did.
Her songwriting and themes are extremely varied: an almost jangle-pop effort on "Broken", a Motown groove on "Tell Me Something True", and
the minor-keyed reflective rocker of "My Heart if Free" really show the breadth of her abilities. The latter ("...Free") about the thoughts of a soldier at the WWII Normandy landing really took me by surprise - what a fine song this is!
Some tracks are mind-challenging and a little disturbing like that. Other ones are happy-go-lucky ones that make you feel like you're wrapped in a fuzzy blanket.
I'm not really a fan of Emmy Lou Harris or Nanci Griffith (frankly, they bore me to tears), or other folkies who seem to be compared to Tift. I think this album has better drive than that, and isn't so gosh darn "folkie", which I don't really care for.
Her band is quite competent - they groove together well, keeping it just sparse enough to let Tift's angelic voice cut through. The harmonizing vocals are good and carry nice odd 5ths and other blends instead of the usual tired country-style chords. I'm not the first reviewer to use "angel" to describe her voice. It's the truth. It almost sparkles with the ethereal sweetness of Alison Krauss, and believe me, that's saying something.
To give you a better picture of where I'm coming from, The Beatles, The Who, Jackson Browne, Kathleen Edwards, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sarah Harmer ---- quite a weird list, eh? If that sounds like you, you'll like this album.
So, why only 4 stars and not 5? Believe me, this is a REALLY GOOD album. But I hold back 5-star ratings for things that are landmark achievements.
Free Music Review: Reedy but sure soprano is easy to listen to; strong songs are very strong
Hit: 4 Stars
A steady, quietly but firmly self-confident woman. Her somewhat thin, reedy, but sure soprano is easy to listen to. She is a more mainstream version of Kasey Chambers, a quieter sister of Gail Davies, or a more countrified cousin of Dar Williams. Tunes are attractive; lyrics rarely assert themselves, but never sound generic. Settings are mainly solid, standard country, never generic. Strong songs are very strong. The rest are more innocuous than weak. Are her strengths enough? All the chills tell me that this will grow on me. Stand outs: tr 3: Another country. "Love is another country." Her quiet, soft, heartfelt voice is hopeful, never yearning, as though in a quiet reverie of possibilities. Lovely. Chills. tr 4--Hopes too high. The easy reediness of her voice again lets us in unobtrusively as the song choogles along quietly. Lovely. tr 5--Morning is my destination. Positive, heartland music in which she asserts more than hopes that "morning is my destination." tr 7--I know what I'm looking for. As she asserts the next stage of her life quietly, tensions of determination and loss bring chills. tr 10--Tender branch. Her reedy voice carries her firmly along a carelessly meandering ¾-time melody in a spare setting. Tr 11--Mille tendresses. A quiet, languorous, 2/4-time rumination in French, with discretely churchy piano, organ.Free Music Review: Understated elegance
Hit: 4 Stars
I really liked Tift Merrit's previous CD, "Tambourine," and bought "Another Country" as soon as I saw it on a display at a store. Her voice truly is gorgeous, and the lyrical content of her songs on this CD is very personal and accessible. That being said, I must admit that I was a little disappointed the first several times that I listened to "Another Country" because of how understated it is--it didn't just reach out and grab my attention as much as I had expected that it would. After a few repeated listens, however, I learned to more fully appreciate its understated elegance. I highly recommend this artist and CD. "Tambourine" also is very good.