Mercy Rising (Crooked Crown Records) is the wonderful new album from Maia Shop, her first solo effort in six years. It's full of the smart, literate lyrics we’ve come to expect from her and the spare, tuneful arrangements match their tone.
Sharp, a native of California, recently moved to Nashville, not, it seems, for the country music scene as much as for the community of like-minded songwriters and musicians. And except for some pedal steel guitar Mercy Rising is in no way a country album. The basic tracks were recorded at Joshua Grange’s Resistor Studio in Nashville with Ross McReynolds on drums, Will Honaker on bass. and Grange on electric guitars. Sharp then brought those tracks back to her home studio where she performed and engineered acoustic guitars, piano, Wurlitzer, and her vocals as well as the vocals of her friends and co-writers.
Most of the songs on Mercy Rising are co-writes but if I was to guess I’d say the lyrical tone is from Sharp. My favorite song on the album, "Always Good To See You," is a bonus track (it’s on the CD but I’m not sure if it’s on the vinyl) that Sharp wrote for the SongWriter podcast and inspired by “The Ordinary Miraculous” essay from Cheryl Strayed‘s book Tiny Beautiful Things.
This title of this post is a reference to the title of that song, a beautiful and yet sad gem. As you get older, more and more partners, friends, and family members are no longer with us. So it seems even more important that through luck or the fact these people have never really left us we see or hear something that reminds us of them: “I am still amazed at your ways of checking in/A cardinal on a wire, a yard sale dress/It’s always good to see you.”
The lyrics in Sharp’s songs are straightforward and she doesn’t seem to have much time for metaphors. However, she uses one on “Back Burner” but it’s clear what she’s singing about: “It’s a hell of a way to pay for my desire/It’s a hell of a way to say turn the flame up higher/I try to put you on the backburner/When I put you on the backburner/You set the place on fire.”
There’s no question of what the sexy “You’ll Know Who Knows You Tonight” is about; it’s about a hoped-for seduction and there‘s more than a little funk in the arrangement: “Slow dance slow in the kaleidoscope glow of a lava lamp light/Thermostat down, sip of Crown and if I get this right/You’ll know who knows you tonight.”
“Things To Fix” is a classic Sharp song. It makes the connection between what has to be repaired around the house with what needs to be fixed in a relationship: “I can work on something ‘til it shines like new/But I just couldn’t bring myself to shine for you/What I should’ve said and should’ve done/Yeah, I keep skipping over number one/On my list of things to fix.”
And “Not Your Friend” relates the pent-up feelings you have for someone who doesn’t see you as more than a friend when you want so much more: “I’m not your friend/Friends don’t pray their friends undo another button/I’m not your friend/Friends don’t lose their breath all of the sudden/You might say that you never want to see me again.”
“Lay Of The Land,“ (Bandcamp) the new single from The Shop Window, is the band’s first new music since their excellent debut album The State Of Being Human was released earlier this year. The band has said the new song is a taster of what can be expected on their next album which was recorded in August after rehearsals in June and July.
The swirling psychedelic vibe of "Lay Of The Land" is darker in both music and lyrics than earlier compositions; in some ways it’s the band’s “Tomorrow Never Knows.” As songwriter Carl Mann put it: “It’s about experiencing dark times along the way, getting lost down a few rabbit holes, meeting the wrong people, and getting oneself back into a better place. Eventually figuring out what this is all about: Love!”
Like an afternoon that alternates between clouds and sunshine, the verses lay out life's dark corners while an uplifting chorus provides answers. In addition, the superb interplay of the band members also casts a bright light on the song’s sometimes menacing tone.
The rhythm section of Martin Corder on bass and Phil Elphee on drums bring a solid foundation to the proceedings. The vocals of Mann and Syd Oxlee are like the singing of Lennon and McCartney on early Beatles recordings in which their voices meshed into one sound. And, as always, Mann’s stellar contributions on guitar, from the treated opening to the jangle pop sounds he brings throughout, are the band’s secret weapon.
The rock and roll super group that accompanied Vince Melouney on his “Women” single last year (in my review I called it “a crash course in garage rock”) was made up of members of Blondie, the Jigsaw Seen, and Strangers In A Strange Land. It now has an official name and has released a single.
"Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)," the single from Tall Poppy Syndrome (Bandcamp), was written by Vince’s former bandmate Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees in 1968 for that band’s Idea album (it wasn’t included in the original album but is part of the 2006 reissue). Vince, as you know, is an Australian guitar legend and was a member of the classic Bee Gees lineup from 1967 to 1969.
"Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)" isn’t a seasonal song despite the mention of those two almost holidays. The song concerns a long-lost love and perhaps those two days had a special significance for the lovers (dragons also seem to figure in the relationship).
The new version is a completely different animal than the original. Tall Poppy Syndrome’s version grabs mid-60s influences and puts them into a melting pot to serve up a steaming plate of prime rock and roll. Vince brings his signature crisp, clean guitar sound to the song, drummer Clem Burke of Blondie channels his inner Moon man, Jonathan Lea of the Jigsaw Seen adds more guitars and an Indian-sounding mellotron wash, and Strangers In A Strange Land’s Alec Palao’s bass playing is very much in the McCartney Revolver-era vein while his bandmate Paul Kopf lays down a terrific vocal on top of it all.
