And while her sophomore album, 2015's 'Pageant Material' is a slightly weaker album due to the dramatic stakes being significantly weakened, I would still be looking forward to a new album if it was coming. And now we've got it in the form of 'Golden Hour', my most anticipated album of the year. Did we get the classic we all know she can make?
Simply put, no. In fact, I would go as for to say that this is the furthest that Kacey Musgraves has been over the course of her three album discography which is endlessly disappointing, as I said, this was my most anticipated album of they year, and to see it come out like this is a damn shame. However, it would certainly be unfair to say that 'Golden Hour' is a bad album either, as this is far from the case. What Musgraves and her collaborating songwriters and producers bring to the table with this album is a lot of potentially interesting ideas that let fragments of the Kacey Musgraves I loved in 2013, interspersed with love songs that can occasionally feel indistinct.
What is certainly not indistinct here is the familiar voice of Kacey Musgraves, and while she is at no point as subtly expressive as she was on the best moments of 'Same Trailer Different Park', but she still has a great voice which she effortlessly flexes throughout this album. That is, apart from the interlude 'Mother' where she sounds a half step away from RaeLynn for some reason. But, on an overwhelming majority of this album, like the standout 'Love Is A Wild Thing' that shows off Musgraves' great upper range, the closer 'Rainbow', and the rather upsetting subtler delivery on 'Space Cowboy' are all tracks that showcase Musgraves' excellent voice. I just wish the production that she have behind her was more consistent.
That doesn't mean to say that there aren't some decent moments in the production too, though. Musgraves and her production do have great tastes in chord progressions on the piano ballads like 'Mother' and 'Rainbow', I'll give her a lot of credit for that. Not to mention the excellent jangling groove on 'Love Is A Wild Thing', the stab at disco funk that goes surprisingly decently on 'High Horse', and the phenomenal reverb touched hook on 'Space Cowboy', these are all great moments, don't get me wrong, but for every time something goes well on 'Golden Hour' the production team lets a lot of poor tonal choices slip through. Why the awful sounding vocal snippet opening 'Oh, What A World' was included on the finished version of the track I've got no idea, as well as the synthetic fragment on the first verse; there's a a similar problem with the grading synthetic guitar tones on the solo on the borderline synth pop 'Velvet Elvis', with flat vocal production that seems to entirely ignore Musgraves' fundamental appeal.
It also seems that the tightly weaved melodies that made up 'Same Trailer Different Park' and to a lesser extent 'Pageant Material' have been significantly softened, and, on songs like 'Space Cowboy', seemed to have picked up a lot of hazy atmosphere that does kind of clash with some of the more rigid tracks here. Going from 'Slow Burn' to 'Lonely Weekend' is a bit jarring.
It also appears that no one has a clue what their doing with the percussion,which is either painfully thin, yet overweight like on 'Lonely Weekend' where the mixing is a complete nightmare, especially on the hook, or equally thin, and incredibly underwhelming like on 'Happy And Sad' making for a generally confused and unsettled listing experience that feels nowhere near as grounded as it could have done, but maybe I'm being too harsh. After all, the element that won over fans for Kacey Musgraves in 2013 was the writing.
And, once again, your getting a mixed bag, with a lot more love songs this time round. Like the fairly innocent bouncy 'Butterflies' with the extended butterfly metaphor being pretty cute, but what I found more striking was the line 'grandma cried when I pieced my nose' on the opening track 'Slow Burn' which picks up a lot more emotional weight when she discusses her own mother on 'Mother', there is definitely pathos to that. 'Space Cowboy' also works by taking the imagery of a horse in its field and gently crafting it into something so much more; just further evidence that Kacey Musgraves is sill as talented a songwriter as ever. Nowhere on this album is that more apparent on the excellent track 'Love Is A Wild Thing' that may be one of the best songs I've heard all year with heartfelt lyrics linking love to nature, highlighting the organic and inescapable nature of love itself. Gorgeous song.
The closer 'Rainbow' falls into a similar category, a track that discusses the difficulty that one undergoes in overcoming ones problems, but also the rewarding nature of overcoming said problems all through Kacey Musgraves rich and gorgeously framed lyrics. 'Lonely Weekend' perhaps goes even further where Musgraves tries to insist to herself that she's content with being alone at the weekend, but by that hook, you realise that there's definitely more too it than that, she still describes herself as lonely after all.
The writing doesn't always stick, though. 'High Horse' is perhaps the most blatant example. Musgraves tries to tell some anonymous person to get out of town as they think they're so much cooler than everyone else, but every listen to that song just further convinces me that Kacey Musgraves was not the right singer to deliver this message. She is a better fit for love songs like 'Velvet Elvis' and 'Golden Hour', and 'Wonder Woman' but no love song on this album is comparable to 'Somebody to Love' or 'Late To The Party' from 'Pageant Material'.
To make the 'Pageant Material' comparison once more, 'Happy And Sad' tries to be the ultra relatable song about mingled emotions, but this isn't too far removed from what Musgraves did on 'Miserable', a far better song.
As it is, it may appear that I'm being too harsh towards an album that is indeed good. I will admit I did have huge expectations going in, but I genuinely thought that Kacey Musgraves was going to do something amazing with this album, but, as it is, it's merely good. Huge disappointment, but still an incredibly strong 3.5 / 5, but it should have been more.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Best Songs: 'Love Is A Wild Thing', 'Space Cowboy', 'Rainbow'
Worst Songs: 'Velvet Elvis', 'Golden Hour'
No comments:
Post a Comment