Album Review: Brand New Heartache - A New Alchemy
On their new album A NEW ALCHEMY, the chemistry of East Nashville-based duo Brand New Heartache shines through. The husband and wife team of Eleese and Matthew Meschery guide the listener through a relationship timeline never veering away from al facets of a shared journey. A dozen tracks blend infectious pop with the folky charm of collaborative country shaping Americana through the lens of the classic duet. A vocal spread of lead off interchange, contrasting tones and harnessed harmonies flavour a pot underpinned by love and an charged intent to weave emotion into a alluring soundscape.
If a strong opening gambit is a must to seize the initiative, the buoyant beat of ‘New Alchemy’ delivers as a bout of intelligent pop laced with lavish hooks and connective melodies. A surefire playlist candidate. Not to settle on their laurels, the Meschery’s cast a vocal spell with follow-on track ‘Montreal’, packed with a yearning appeal aligning nostalgia with a folk leaning. A couple of tracks further down the playing order, any remnant of investment is paid off in the wonderful aura of country stroller ‘Wedding Rice’. This no holds barred love song swings from solo to duet to harmony vocals offering a super chorus echoing a faint resemblance to John Prine's ‘In Spite of Ourselves’. The metaphorical use of throwing wedding rice in context takes hold to usher in another standout number.
The other three tracks in the first half shore up the overall appeal. ‘Next Best Thing’ asks the difficult questions in a relationship with a layered sound employing a snippet of electronica to spice things up. ‘Precious Day’ leans in a more organic direction with an acoustic strummed opening leading into a sprightly paced track. There is a classic tinge to ‘Company We Keep’ with impressive vocal exchange and the type of song Kacey Musgraves would cut.
Two tracks in the second half rival the standout trio in the first without knocking them off the podium. ‘Eurydice’ ups the cultural ante and is a song of two halves, a quieter first phase igniting into something more active midway. The memorable line ‘You can have my heart, but you have to take me too’ leaves a fine lyrical impression. The other pick from the latter stages is actually the closer where ‘Someone Else’ seals the deal by harking the fundamentals of any relationship journey. In a song that ties all the loose ends up, the line ‘If I didn’t love you/Then I would be someone else’ cuts through. The perfect antidote to the classy opener savoured forty minutes earlier in the running time.
Scattered in the vicinity of these two picks are four tracks etched in the album’s DNA. ‘Hold Fast’ embodies the spirit of Brand New Heartache in full flow, while ‘Raise the Shade’ sees a bigger sound employed with power ballad sensibilities and a fully embedded guitar rock solo to embed the Americana shine. ‘Moving Song’ has a transient theme and is another slip into acoustic strumming mode, while ‘Younger Us’ recounts a sense of pride in reflective mode as the record begins to wind down.
A NEW ALCHEMY is an album with plenty to give. You are left wondering where each track will lead though are never far from the objective of connecting songs with two aching voices compatible as one as effectivly as on their own. Brand New Heartache is a band name to remember carved into the ideals of Americana music. East Nashville innovation with a Californian core locates a record you are in tune with every step of the way.
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