Sunday, October 12, 2008
A+E, Music, Reviews

RAY LAMONTAGNE

“GOSSIP IN THE GRAIN” (RCA)

The world may not have asked for another Nick Drake, but for those who miss the late singer-songwriter, Ray LaMontagne is a reasonable substitute.
  
LaMontagne’s third release kicks off forcefully with “You are the Best Thing,” a horn-enhanced, blue-eyed soul gem torn out of the Van Morrison playbook that’s unlike anything that follows. From there, he slows the pace considerably, gradually shifting from the Amos Lee-styled ballad “Let It Be Me” to the finger-picking, string quartet-embellished “Sarah,” which sounds like a Drake outtake.
  
That’s not to slight these songs, the low-key, sympathetic production or LaMontagne’s emotion-drenched, doe-eyed vocals. Songs such as “I Still Care for You” build tension through hushed, occasional falsetto vocals, insistent drums, ghostly pedal steel guitar and just enough flower-power psychedelia to name-check Donovan as an influence.
  
The singer’s unusual tribute to Meg White (appropriately titled, er, “Meg White”) meshes a folksy garage strum with LaMontagne’s breathy voice, childlike lyrics (“Playing them drums is hard to do it’s true/ Nobody plays them like you do”) and a bridge straight out of “Strawberry Fields Forever” for a bizarre, whimsical concoction that sounds like something Willy Wonka would have on his iPod.  The harmonica punctuating “Henry Nearly Killed Me (It’s a Shame)” brings an unhinged bluesy swing worth exploring further in the future.

For now, LaMontagne floats in a soul dream that seems like a natural route Drake might have taken, had he lived to investigate the possibilities. 3 STARS—Hal Horowitz