The ultimate beauty of a record is not when it leaves the
performer but the moment it lands on the listener. Music is best gift wrapped
for sharing and it is an absolute treat to be cast under the spell of the new
album from East Nashville based artist Caroline Spence. SPADES & ROSES is
the follow up to the 2015 release SOMEHOW and transmits to the listener as a
luscious layered body of drooling singer-songwriter heaven. The seeping aurora
that oozes out of tracks one to eleven makes this one of the most satisfying
albums to hit the wires in 2017 stamped with a guarantee that it will last the
distance.
Under the guidance of Neilson Hubbard, the producing architect
of three high quality album releases just this year to date, the music and
vocals give each other the space to flourish allowing the sheer magnitude of
Caroline’s immense talent to sparkle. This talent ranges from a hazy sensual
vocal style to the strength of committing some pretty substantial lyrical
content to the powerful medium of song. You can take your pick of genre labels
from country, folk and Americana, but this album rises above such tagging to
flagship what is good about the overall essence of penning the ideal songs to
induce goose bumps and the proverbial shivers.
Like all great singer-songwriter albums, SPADES & ROSES
is best savoured with the lyric sheet at hand, yet just immersing yourself into
its pulsating tones isn’t a bad substitute. Caroline has some pretty special
associates in her midst with Miranda Lambert being attracted to her songs and
touring with John Moreland. To throw another name into the mix, there is a
hint of Gretchen Peters threading throughout the release. This most
prominently surfaces in a sound perspective in ‘To Go Down’, which ironically is the one track that Caroline didn’t
write. Pete Lindberg, who is known in the UK through his touring work with Cale
Tyson, is responsible for this song.
Deep into the well of this album, Caroline really gets to
the grips with issues ripe for the scrutiny of song. ‘Hotel Armadillo’ is a wonderful take of the life of a travelling
musician, while ‘Softball’ explores
gender inequality in full metaphorical mode. In ‘Southern Accident’, Caroline opens her heart to epic proportions
and fully displays the tough inner/tender outer side to her art in ‘You Don’t Look So Good (Cocaine)’.
The songs are a general mixture of solo and co-written
efforts with a familiar name from a few years ago in Stephanie Lambring
cropping up on the credits. She collaborated on one of the album’s promotion
tracks ‘Slow Dancer’, an example of
tantalisingly revealing the contents of the record via reputable online music
outlets. When folks finally get a copy of this album, the guarantee is that you’ll
get won over right from the first track. Caroline aches ‘I wanna lose myself in
the heart of somebody’ and you’ll definitely start losing your heart in this
record as soon as you hear ‘Heart of
Somebody’.
Another Stephanie Lambring co-write blossoms in the early
stages of the record in ‘All The Beds I’ve
Made’ and the highest compliment to pay this album is to proclaim that it is totally
devoid of any filler content. Therefore anointing a standout track is replaced
by the need to create time for the whole listening entity. Even as the final
three tracks emerge your patience won’t be tested. ‘Wishing Well’ provides a timely change in tempo and ‘I Can’t Complain’ could even be
lifted as the strapline to this album review. The piano-led closer ‘Goodbye Bygones’ is in classic territory,
contains the album title in the lyrics and seals the deal of this being a
totally absorbing release.
Spending time listening to SPADES & ROSES is an exercise
in mind massaging. Therefore kick back and soak up its tempting twang and amalgam
of soft toned elegance. Southern to its core while exposing an element of
evocative fragility start the journey of projecting this album’s worth. However
the next stage is that of listener connection so do what you need to do.
www.carolinespencemusic.com