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AMERICANA
Brandi Carlile
In These Silent Days (Low Country Sound)
Brandi Carlile’s 2019 breakthrough to mainstream recognition and Grammy Awards-show stardom must have been sweet vindication. She was a hardscrabble kid who quit school at 17 to pursue music and committed the next 20 years to resolutely chasing her dream with “The Twins” — her trusted bandmates and collaborators, Tim and Phil Hanseroth.
(imageTag)While Carlile’s thrilling contralto was always going to grab listeners attention, she refused to conform to rigid formats; standing fast to her own musical muse — an Americana/folk vibe that incorporates elements of classic rock as well as the dramatic flair of Queen or Elton John. Hers is a sound that others found hard to categorize but Carlile’s epic, show-stopping songs — such as The Story or The Joke — ultimately proved too powerful to ignore.
Now, after taking some time for herself and for her family — and, like everybody else, to ride out the pandemic — Carlile is back for her victory lap, which began earlier this year with the release of her memoir, Broken Horses, and now this, her seventh studio album.
Working again with co-producers Shooter Jennings and Dave Cobb, Carlile and the Hanseroths have created a 40-minute, 10-song outing that offers up some of her most personal lyrics to date while hitting on all her musical touchstones. Album opener Right On Time is a leadoff home run, a heartfelt, piano-driven ode to a lover/partner that builds to a soaring, vocals-and-strings crescendo. On You and Me on the Rock, Carlile channels her inner Joni Mitchell (one of her new best friends) in a light rock tune that’s dappled with California sun (and even channels the Jackson 5 in its bridge). Third song This Time Tomorrow is the epitome of the Carlile/Hanseroth sound, a gentle acoustic-guitar paean to their children, sung in peerless three-part harmony.
If listeners can recover from that one-two-three combination,...