Still life

"Still Life, her third LP (and first for the venerable indie label Merge Records) takes her gifts and moves them into a different direction without blunting the qualities that made her memorable. While country influences are still audible in these songs, here she embraces roots rock, blues, indie rock, '70s folk rock, and idiosyncratic pop in her melodies as well as her arrangements, and allows scrappy electric guitars to take center stage on several tunes ... The energy in her performances on "Someone Else" and the title track sounds gloriously liberating; she's clearly having fun taking her music to new places and the performances are full of the joy of discovery ... All the gifts that made Carson McHone an artist to watch when she first emerged from the Texas singer/songwriter arena are present and accounted for on Still Life, but she's added new ideas that make this music feel like a metamorphosis; transforming herself into an artist who has thrown off any generic frameworks that confined her in the past".

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"Teaming up with [producer] Daniel Romano certainly seems a smart move as this record broadens the approach to Carson McHone's music. "Spoilt on The Vine" puts the T in Twang and the sweet vocals are backed by lush swathes of orchestral arrangements as the song progresses, the vocal very reminiscent of the great Hazeldine all those years ago. "Sweet Magnolia" starts as a sparse piano ballad then there's more weeping keyboard orchestration adding textures that lift the tune to new heights ... This is a great album and although at times it deviates from Carson McHone's traditional country sounds, veering off into almost AOR territory, in this case that genre is meant as a huge compliment".

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"Album of the month" - "Talented Texan broadens out on beguiling third".