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Avg: 4.0 (69 ratings)
- Date Released: August 5, 2008
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Commercial Alternative
- Label: Daemon Records / The Orchard
A subtle, textured work from the punkier Indigo Girl
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We Say...
Social activist, environmental crusader, gold-certified folkie, celesbian: by any standard except her own, Amy Ray is good enough. “Why can’t I just deliver?” she sings in “Stand and Deliver,” measuring herself against an idealized lover and coming up short. In “Birds of a Feather,” she locates the fault lines not just in the gay community, but the human one: “If we are birds of a feather/ Why can’t we fly in formation?” she asks against a slow, spooked Crazy Horse riff. Ray’s incessant striving and willingness to question herself push Didn’t It Feel Kinder leagues beyond the side-project stature of her first two solo albums.
Whereas Stag and Prom functioned as high-caliber venting — with Indigo Girls humming along at a polite, predictable clip, she’d occasionally lock herself in the garage and kick out the jams — Didn’t It Feel Kinder matches the Girls’ best work in songwriting craft and ambition. Tempos shift, melodies coil and unravel, subtle arrangement textures like cello and soul horns soften the rough guitars; producer Greg Griffith (the Butchies) strips “Birds of a Feather” just to bass and voice, then builds it to an astonishing crescendo. Ray tells the story beneath the story: the tangle of unhappy forces motivating the Virginia Tech shooter in “Who Sold the Gun,” the numbed complacency of a factory farm worker in “Out on the Farm.” She’s not above having a good time — in “Cold Shoulder” she’s calling a closeted babe’s bluff — but the more doubt she feels, the better she and her songs get. -
They Say...
On her third solo album, Amy Ray's moved a bit closer to a mainstream indie rock sound, but the music's lost none of its bite and her lyrics remain full of insightful details. She continues to examine the conflicts of growing up in a small town, of being out in straight society and fighting the good fight against overwhelming odds. The ten tracks have echoes of every style form the '50s to the '80s, a broad musical spectrum held together by the heart and soul Ray brings to everything she sings. "Cold Shoulder" is a new wavey dance track that talks about forbidden love, and the common struggle that ties youthful misfits together. "She may be straight tonight but last night she let me hold her," she sings ruefully. The sprightly music contrasts neatly with lyrics that convey the frustration of coming out in a small town. "Birds of a Feather" is a moving ballad wherein a young lesbian commiserates with a closeted friend, suggesting that they migrate to a place where they can be themselves. The slow tempo, distorted guitar accents, and Ray's distressed vocal give the tune an unbearable tension. "Who Sold the Gun" borrows Beach Boys harmonies and a '60s backbeat for a protest song that connects the dots between Iraq, video games, and teen streetcorner violence. Ray channels her inner Joe Strummer for the uplifting "SLC Radio." The tune salutes the underground community of Salt Lake City, a town with a surprisingly active gay and alternative community. It ends with an anthemic chant: "I want to shake these chains off, what have I got to lose?" There's a late-night R&B-meets-country feel to "Lady Luck," a quiet rumination on the struggle between love and fear that we all go through when a relationship gets difficult. Ray's vocal is full of grief and longing as she pleads for reconciliation. "She's Got to Be" is a moody, Motown flavored tune, a passionate midtempo love song perfect for slow dancing. All the tunes here are delivered in short, sharp two- and three-minute bursts, emotional poppers that'll snap your eyes open and have you pressing replay the minute the album's over.
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| 01. |  |
Birds Of A Feather |
3:44 |
|
| 02. | |
She's Got To Be |
5:25 |
|
| 03. | |
Bus Bus |
2:56 |
|
| 04. | |
Cold Shoulder |
2:56 |
|
| 05. | |
Who Sold The Gun |
3:09 |
|
| 06. | |
Out On The Farm |
4:40 |
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| 07. | |
SLC Radio |
4:44 |
|
| 08. | |
Blame Is A Killer |
2:38 |
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| 09. | |
Stand And Deliver |
3:43 |
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| 10. | |
Rabbit Foot |
5:02 |
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| 11. | |
Angel Egg (Bonus Track) |
2:05 |
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| 12. | |
Cold Shoulder (Alternate Version Bonus Track) |
3:03 |
|
12 Total Tracks, 44:05 Total Length
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Credits
- Amy Ray - Guitar (Acoustic) // Amy Ray - Guitar // Amy Ray - Guitar (Electric) // Amy Ray - Vocals // Amy Ray - Photography // Amy Ray - Portraits // Amy Ray - Cover Photo // Kate Schellenbach - Paintings // Lisa Sullivan - Photography // Trina Meade - Vocals (Background) // Larry Ray, Sr. - Photography // Danny Kadar - Producer // Danny Kadar - Engineer // Danny Kadar - Mixing // Tomi Martin - Guitar (Electric) // Melissa York - Percussion // Melissa York - Drums // Kaia Wilson - Guitar (Electric) // Glenn Schick - Mastering // Zac Rae - Organ (Hammond) // Zac Rae - Clavinet // Zac Rae - Mellotron // Zac Rae - Wurlitzer // Zac Rae - Toy Piano // Erin Bradley Dangar - Package Design // John Holmes - Engineer // Donn Aaron - Assistant // Brandi Carlile - Vocals (Background) // Colin Leonard - Assistant // Andrew Dunn - Piano // Andrew Dunn - Trombone // Andrew Dunn - Keyboards // Alex Hornbake - Bass // Alex Hornbake - Engineer // Benjamin Morris Wigler - Vocals // James DeDakis - Percussion // James DeDakis - Drums // Nick Byron Campbell - Guitar (Electric) // Julian Dreyer - Engineer
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