Reviews
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Another Country
Caroline Doctorow
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Tift Merritt
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 something of 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.
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