ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
As I’ve mentioned before, one of my favorite things to do here at the office is discover new musical artists to listen to while I work and recently, I made yet another one of those with indie artist Patty Griffin and her newest album, “Crown of Roses.”
For those who are unaware, Griffin is a U.S. vocalist, guitarist and pianist, and she is most known for her work in the folk music genre. Since that isn’t typically the music I go to when I’m looking for something to listen to, it makes sense I haven’t discovered her until now, and I was left kind of wondering how I haven’t come across her music before.
To start, Griffin’s vocal work is done very well, and she makes each song on the album sweet and deep and soulful, almost somewhat reminding me of Lana Del Ray or Patsy Cline or artists like that. Her voice easily transitions from a more indie sound to more country sound on certain songs, and I feel like she would make a killing if she made the move to country music and took on that more traditional country sound. The best way I could describe Griffin’s voice is it’s just overall very calm and peaceful, almost like finding a quiet brook after a loud day, though I have a feeling there’s a lot of extra power behind it. Overall, I thought the vocals were absolutely outstanding.
The instrumental parts also just about left my jaw on the floor for the entire album, because everything is just so well done, especially the guitar playing. There are some extra guitar skills showcased in the song “All the Way Home,” which features some distinct Spanish influences, and it just works so well. There are also a couple songs that feature some extra string parts, and those songs definitely benefit from those inclusions. The instrumentals and Griffin’s vocals blend so, SO well, and I found the end result to be pretty dazzling. Overall, there’s also some great instrumental talent shown throughout the album, and I loved it.
Griffin and her team also prove themselves solid lyricists with every song on the album, which is something I rarely get to say. Each song is almost pure poetry, and each song tells a distinct story listeners can visualize. There are many metaphors in the lyrics of each song that listeners should be able to relate to, and I’m always up for that. I felt like the song that did the metaphors best was the album’s opener, “Back at the Start,” which is all about starting over even though you’ve been through rough patches in life, because that’s basically all you can do, and that’s a message that hit a bit close to home for me at the moment. Another song on the album I thought was particularly lyrically solid was “Born in a Cage,” which Griffin said was inspired by her mother in an interview I happened to find online. She said in that interview “At the end, my mom was noticing the songbirds weren’t showing back up in the spring, and rabbits and all kinds of animals were disappearing. Even the coyotes moved into Maine because they lost their habitat. There were all these changes to the delicate balance, and it must’ve been really hard to see.” After thinking on the song after listening to it, I thought it a good and subtle metaphor for how we need to take care of Earth or several animal species will only survive by being bred in captivity due to their habitats being completely wrecked by human activity. Overall, the lyric work on this album is absolutely solid.
While I did enjoy the album overall, there were a few gripes I had, beginning with the overall sound. Aurally, I felt the songs on the album sounded too much alike, and I could’ve used some variety in that regard. Don’t get me wrong, the songs are well performed and well written, but after my first listen of the album, one of my first thoughts was “Why did everything sound almost exactly the same?” And at just more than 35 minutes, I also felt the album was a little short and could have used maybe just a couple more songs to really round everything out and maybe add in some more of that aforementioned variety.
Overall, Patty Griffin’s newest “Crown of Roses” album is a solid effort, and I would give it a B-plus grade. Griffin is able to show off her vocal and instrumental skills in just eight songs, and the lyric work from her and her team is absolutely solid, with my particular favorites being “Back at the Start” and “Born in a Cage” due to their solid use of metaphors. I did feel like the album could have used some more aural variety since the songs sounded so much alike, and I also wouldn’t have minded a couple more songs to help round the album out. If you’re a fan of the indie music scene or want something more easy-listening to put on, this album is a good one to cue up.
