Jay Farrar
Terroir Blues
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Jay Farrar
Terroir Blues
Act/Resist, 2004
RiYL: Son Volt, Hank Williams and the Byrds |
Farrar is still moving away from whatever strain of mainstream left in his mind, and while that may not necessarily be a bad thing, it doesn't exactly give hope to long suffering Uncle Tupelo and early Son Volt fans who wonder just what has happened to their favorite son.
Terroir is a French term that is translated as "soil," "dirt," or, more broadly, "landscape." On Terroir Blues, Farrar tries to paint a vivid musical and lyrical landscape, mixing blues (hence the name…), folk, roots music, and psychedelica all in one album. In a sense, he's attempting to do what Roger McGuinn tried many times over with the Byrds, create an album that explores the genesis of music from Appalachian bluegrass to space-aged keyboards and muzak. McGuinn tried valiantly, but never truly pulled it off, though he came awfully close on The Notorious Byrd Brothers.
How does Farrar do? Well, he has some successes, notably the opener "No Rolling Back" and the breezy "Hanging on to You," but he also fails miserably on the quirky blues stomp of "Fool King’s Crown" and the plodding and lyrically bland "California."
Farrar, who sometimes can pen a brilliant, tear-jerking lyric like "Ten Second News" from Son Volt’s 1995 masterful debut Trace and "Way Down Watson" from the solid 1997 follow-up Straightaways, has recently been known to miss the mark. Check out Son Volt's final album, 1998's Wide Swing Tremelo, notably the song "Medicine Hat," and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Well, on Terroir Blues, Farrar continues his hit-or-miss trend. For example, on the slow "Cahokian," he serendipitously describes his frustration with the changing landscape of middle America, the Midwest, and other remote places that are being built up for industries’ sake.
"I will wait for you in the green, green spaces/ wearing our post-industrial faces/ Side-by-side sit the trash pile twin and eleventh century ceremonial center," Farrar sings, invoking images of ancient Native American lands.
And on "Hard is the Fall," a plodding but captivating number, Farrar retraces the steps of his recently deceased father, as he traveled around Mid-America trying to make a living as a musician. Recalling the image of Hank Williams, Farrar sings: "Shaking the hand of the rambling man from Montgomery/ a musical evangelist/ a never-ending quest."
But his writing on "California" just falls completely flat. The song itself isn’t exactly a musical tour-de-force, but on the chorus, Farrar misses the mark completely. "It’s been said before/ but it’s worth saying/ No one could dream a place like California/ Oh it’s been written before/ but it’s worth repeating/ No one could dream a place like California," he sings. Okay, if it’s been said before, and its worth repeating, it is certainly not worth repeating twice in the same song, and especially not in the freakin’ chorus!
And the theme of "repeating" is Terroir Blues' biggest flaw: there are two versions of four songs, and littered throughout the record are pieces of what he calls "Space Junk," which are essentially Farrar plodding about the studio on his guitar and feeding the tapes backwards.
If the old adage “less is more” is accurate, than Terroir Blues fails on that count.
All that said, the album isn't all bad. If nothing else, Terroir Blues is a brave record. Brave because Farrar is clearly taking risks; he set out to discover himself by discovering his past, and he passes along interesting social commentary throughout. "All of Your Might," for example, is breathtaking, as are the aforementioned "Cahokian," "Dent County" and "No Rolling Back."
Musically, the album can get tiring. He doesn't exactly set the speakers ablaze on any song, but the consistency is laudable; its part of his theme.
In the end, though, the album has enough setbacks that Terroir Blues cannot be considered on the same page as Trace, Straightaways, or anything he did with Uncle Tupelo. And for someone begging for Farrar to return to form, that thought is a little disheartening.
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.