Caitlin Cary
I’m Staying Out
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Caitlin Cary
I’m Staying Out
Yep Roc Records, 2003
RiYL: Whiskeytown, Emmylou Harris, Linda Thompson |
Last year, her debut While You Weren’t Looking was probably the most aptly named record of the year. No one expected Cary, the former violinist/harmony vocalist behind the alt.country chaos that was Whiskeytown, to put out an album like that. A solid, polished, critically acclaimed record that surpassed all three of her former bandmate Ryan Adams’ solo records.
The album was just unexpectedly brilliant, as although critics credit her for keeping Whiskeytown together and functional as long as it did, most thought the heartbreak rock and roll that made up much of that band’s catalog came from the disheveled mind of Adams, the one-time wunderkind who now relocates between New York and L.A. and makes strange jeans commercials.
While You Weren’t Looking was stripped down when it needed to be, and full of lush pop orchestrations in other spots. It was almost as if Cary didn’t expect the amount of praise the album would bring; after all, it was released while you weren’t looking.
Well, people are most certainly looking now, and Cary and her label Yep Roc Records decided to move full-steam ahead with her sophomore album while the iron was hot, so they say.
And this brings us to Caitlin Cary Version 2.0, or, more appropriately titled, I’m Staying Out.
Of course, now that people know Cary is a first-rate singer/songwriter on her own, they are going to have expectations for this album that they didn’t necessarily have when they listened to While You Weren’t Looking for the first time. Everyone says the second album is the hardest, the famed “sophomore slump,” if you will. So it’s really not fair to compare the two records. But being critics, we must.
I’m Staying Out is a good record. A damned fine album, and does answer the big question: can she do it again? While the answer is most assuredly, “yes,” the album is not quite at the same level as her debut.
For one thing, Out is much more conservative and toned down from While You Weren’t Looking. No tracks really jump out of the stereo, like say “Thick Walls Down” or “I Ain’t Found Nobody Yet” did on her debut. It’s not that Out sounds rushed, but the immense care and effort that was poured into every crevice of While You Weren’t Looking just doesn’t seem evident. But then again, that album took two years to write, while Out was put together barely one year later.
An example comes early in the album, after a solid start, the lazy tunes “Sleepin’ In On Sunday” and “You Don’t Have to Hide” just don’t seem to have the same power that just about every song had on her debut. They aren’t necessarily bad, just a little flat.
That said, I’m Staying Out is still a terrific album. Its starts strong with the piano-driven pop of “Empty Rooms,” and her voice—the same that drew comparisons to Emmylou Harris while she was in Whiskeytown—is strong throughout. Make no mistake: Caitlin Cary can sing with the best of ‘em.
The album hits its high points in the middle, with the melancholy “Please Break My Heart” anchored by the guitar rock of “Cello Girl.” The former marks a lyrical watermark for Cary, as she set to write a tune about heartbreak despite the fact that she’s been happily married for years. Her sultry vocals fit the slow country groove like a glove as she intones the story of a sad antagonist who’d rather be heartbroken by the same person rather than move on.
“Please break my heart/ and I’ll piece it together/ I’d rather be shattered/ than to live forever/ without you,” Cary sings.
For someone who considers her life too happy to pen a heartbreaker, this is sad, depressing, yet wondrously beautiful stuff. I’d hate to hear her take on things if she really does get her heart broken.
And maybe that’s the strength and weakness of I’m Staying Out. She felt like she had to write a sad song like “Please Break My Heart” just to prove she could. And it’s a good song. People know she can write. But some of the songs on the record feel tight, not really forced, but sort of cut short.
Certainly, I’m Staying Out won’t change anyone’s mind that Cary is first-rate songwriter. It’s still more solid and consistent that Adams’ Gold or Demolition, but let’s not rush things. Cary definitely has the potential to be a major player for a long time, but sometimes overkill does more harm than good.
Ryan Adams has overexposed himself. Everyone expects him to be the next Dylan because he acts like he’s the next Dylan. But he really hasn’t done anything yet except make a few decent records, act like a rockstar and be seen with the right people.
Caitlin, you could be the next Linda Thompson. I’m Staying Out only furthers that belief. But let’s take our time. As you said on “I Ain’t Found Nobody Yet,” the final track on While You Weren’t Looking, “they say these things take time.”
They do. And they’re better when they do, whatever the hell that means.
RODEO ROB | An expert on all things "alt," Rob spends his days covering the energy industry and his nights covering the DC-area bars. Raise yer glass especially high to this man, for he has contributed to this site constantly since its creation four years ago.