Lucinda Williams, “West”
ALT-COUNTRY|Lost Highway, released today
Lucinda Williams writes more than just dark and sad songs.
“There’s more to them than that,” she says in press materials. “Some people might read Flannery O’Connor and see that as simply dark, and it is dark and disturbing, but there’s a philosophical aspect, even a comical aspect, to it as well. I think that’s all there on this album – it’s a full circle, like I’ve come through a metamorphosis.”
Ruminating on the death of her mother and a tumultuous breakup, Williams finds herself waxing poetic about the woe of the past and the hope of the near-future. But give Williams some time, because this, her first proper record since 2003’s “World Without Tears,” takes its time unfolding and finding its footing.
Williams specializes in capturing that shaky emotional ground, but the first half of this record doesn’t compare to the second half. “Are You Alright” and “Mama You Sweet” start the record off with captivating poetry but difficult and often inane melodies. It gets better around “Come On,” which is a furious finger-pointer in the style of P.J. Harvey. The title track is an intoxicating and life-affirming half-speed waltz that assures us that Williams still has it in her. |Ricardo Baca
The Apples in Stereo, “New Magnetic Wonder”
INDIE POP|Simian/Yep Rock, released Feb. 6
The Elephant 6 collective, a loose affiliation of ’60s-influenced indie groups based mostly in Denver and Athens, Ga., may have passed into memory, but a handful of its bands (Of Montreal, Denver’s Dressy Bessy) are still making music. Add to that The Apples in Stereo, the brainchild of former Denverite Robert Schneider and one of the most prominent Elephant 6 groups.
“New Magnetic Wonder” is the band’s first disc in five years, and its 24 songs hark back to the mid- ’90s, when indie rock albums were stuffed with 30-second songs, quasi-orchestral interludes and unabashedly melodic songwriting. Schneider’s Brian Wilson fixation and wide-eyed lyrics are still in effect, but the shiny production and ’70s singer-songwriter flourishes take the band in new directions.
The kaleidoscopic “Same Old Drag” sounds like The Strokes covering Electric Light Orchestra, while “Sundial Song” would feel right at home on the new Sloan disc. By any standard, “New Magnetic Wonder” is a striking pop- rock achievement. |John Wenzel
Lang Lang, “Dragon Songs”
CLASSICAL|Deutsche Grammophon, released Jan. 9
No emerging musician on the classical scene has sparked more of a sensation in the past 10 years than Lang Lang. The 24-year-old pianist combines almost limitless talent with rare charisma.
For his latest album, Lang Lang turns to the traditional music of his native China, and the results are mixed, in large part because of arrangements that awkwardly and superficially try to meld Chinese melodies with Western elements.
Especially disappointing is the “Yellow River Piano Concerto,” which is based on a 1939 choral cantata by Xian Xinghai. In this version, it sounds like a clichéd take- off on Grieg and Rachmaninoff with a few Chinese touches around the edges.
Lang Lang is at his best in the more intimate works that follow, especially those in which piano is paired with a traditional instrument, such as his duet with Fan Wei on pipa (lute) in “Spring Flowers in the Moonlit Night on the River.” |Kyle MacMillan
Other releases today
Gerald Levert, “In My Songs” (Atlantic) The last studio album from the soul singer, who died of a heart attack in November.
Martha Scanlan, “The West Was Burning” (Sugar Hill) The first solo disc from Reeltime Travelers member dishes up a hearty slice of rootsy folk and acoustic Americana.
