Caitlin Canty
Reckless Skyline/Self-released
Caitlin Canty is one of the most beguiling singer-songwriters around, and Reckless Skyline is the latest evidence that she is a cut above the rest. Her songs run the gamut from hard luck tales of life going sideways (“Enough About Hard Times”) to looking for love in the arms of a mysterious man (“Southern Man”), and Canty paints chilling, exquisite pictures throughout. “Get Up” conjures waking up on a cold morning after sleeping outside as the chill bites at your skin, with Canty’s alternately upbeat and haunting vocals simultaneously acting as a soothing balm. The stoic ballad “My Love For You Will Not Fade” features Canty’s beaten down alto paired with a churning rhythm and love-against-all-odds lyrics like “The ink aches for the page/The water wants to be a river.” Skyline is a true Americana record due to its tone and exploration, rather than any stereotype it might seek to emulate, and made truer by the raw beauty of Canty’s irresistible vocals.
Justin Townes Earle
Absent Fathers/Vagrant Records
Justin Townes Earle’s companion piece to the recently released Single Mothers, Absent Fathers is a thoughtful examination of the flip side of the break-up coin. The country-tinged “Why?” finds a man asking why his former love always thinks the worst of him, and on “Least I Got the Blues” Earle laments being the latest in a long line of fools who have succumbed to a woman’s charms. As on SMAF, Earle populates this brisk album (just over 31 minutes long) with simple, mostly acoustic arrangements, all of which cut to the chase with Earle’s classically insightful musings on what makes people broken and beautiful at once (“Day and Night”). Classic rockers like “Round the Bend” breathe life and energy into this largely low-key affair, with tracks like “When the One You Love Loses Faith” representing the overall narrative and tone of this record.
Guster
Evermotion/Ocho Mule Records/Nettwerk Records
Evermotion is the most surprising album yet for this veteran band. Echoing, soaring strings and an ebullient melody make “Endlessly” one of the most upbeat tracks in its catalog, and the driving synth pop of “Simple Machine” is a welcome curve ball. The trippy, bossa nova folk track “Never Coming Down” is the perfect soundtrack for getting high, and “Long Night”’s talk of false gods and echoing guitars that seem to be descending from heaven like glorious waterfalls of sound contemplates whether Guster is from another planet entirely. “Gangway” juxtaposes its amiable road rock sound against images that suggest singer Ryan Miller has a front row seat for the apocalypse. This record is a strange trip compared to the light, happy-go-lucky stuff that the band usually gives its fans, but it’s one worth taking.