Micah's third studio record seems a big departure from the old-time rag country blues styling of his jaunty debut. This time he has produced a series of dark ballads around the themes of faith, misfortune, trickery and wisdom.
The Red River is a short recording of seven songs, devoid of clutter and benefiting greatly from Harris Newman's bright and sympathetic production. On the title track, Newman ensures hypnotic acoustic guitar plucking is to the fore while a tale of goodness and slaughter sneaks into focus. The lyrical weight and sadness of the song are reflected by Jerusha Robinson's cello. Some of the songs create simple mystery through repetitive guitar and clear yet perplexing storytelling. The characters are believable and the songs have arrangements which allow their voices to be heard. In the past decade or so, Alasdair Roberts and Richard Youngs have done this almost without peer. Smaldone's work implies a similar integrity and growing confidence.
Another stand out is "Pale Light". This languid track juxtaposes a sparse soul arrangement (featuring Tim Harbeson's lovely cornet playing) against strange folk lyrics such as "I ask not forgiveness/it was never of malice/nor to jeremiad ends." The rhythm sort of begs for a slightly hysterical falsetto vocal. Smaldone doesn't quite go that far but he does use the top of his range (his "head" voice rather than his "chest" voice) and it works very well. "Pale Light" is the most fun here and the best praise I can offer is to say that it might have dropped off Sandro Perri's Tiny Mirrors disc. There are some nifty guitar fills, a slashing rhythm, and a series of peaks on "A Derelict (That Bore Your Name)" but despite hearing every word I'm unclear what the song is about.
Micah Blue Smaldone has previously gained inspiration from US music of the 1920s but on this record he crosses the ocean and draws upon earlier European. The pieces which open and close the album, "A Guest" and "A Drink," both have a chiming quality that the aforementioned Mr. Roberts might appreciate, and the former adds instruments one at a time to build into a full band piece.
The cover art shows a woman with antlers. The image suggests the kind of transformation which has long been a staple of such unforgettable folk songs as "The Famous Flower of Serving Men". The Red River doesn't contain anything quite in that league but it is a high quality record with enough hazy ambiguity and contrast to ensure repeat listens.
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