Back in 2000, Ryan Adams made the detrimental mistake of appearing fully-formed on his debut album, Heartbreaker. As a result, his records continue to be weighed up against that admittedly untouchable breakthrough release. Thankfully, it’s never halted the songwriter’s progress and Adams returns this week with his self-titled, 14th LP.
While 2011’s Ashes & Fire dealt in acoustic instrumentation and Scott Walker-esque string arrangements, Ryan Adams finds the prolific songwriter in front of a hardier and more changeable backdrop. Electric guitars dominate, which makes it akin to Adams’ five-album streak playing with The Cardinals.
The radio-friendly broad strokes of 2006’s Easy Tiger provide the closest analogue. Yet, while that album suffered from a middling lack of purpose, here Adamsinvokes some of his less fashionable influences to great effect. No, there’s no straight-up country tunes, nor does it showcase his love of punk and metal. Rather, plenty of airtime goes to the nostalgic, sing-along quality of 1980s AM gold.
Adams was born and raised in North Carolina and spent a good chunk of his professional life hard at it in New York City. These days he calls LA home, which perhaps explains why he’s sounding more laidback than ever. Thematically, Ryan Adams isn’t all picnic rugs and Prosecco. In fact, it’s a largely tense affair, detailing vanquished love and unanswered desires (albeit without breaking any boundaries lyrically). Nevertheless, Adams finds a way to soften the blow of even the most telling sentiments.
For instance, Gimme Something Good’s stabbing minor key verses grow to considerable weight. Then all of a sudden, thanks to the Polaroid light saturation of the choruses, those concerns fly off the back of a shiny red convertible. The record’s most intimate track, My Wrecking Ball, is the only time the tag ‘alt-country’ seems apt. Otherwise, Adams conveys his grievances with help from the heartland soft-rock stylings of Mr Petty and Mr Mellancamp, as well as the 1980s output of sires Dylan and Springsteen.
Ryan Adams mightn’t possess Heartbreaker’s ‘15 tracks fit for a mixtape’ quality. But verily, that record isn’t an appropriate frame of reference. Sure, at first glance this album smacks of somewhat daggy familiarity. But nothing is served up in black and white, which leaves plenty of room for listener interaction.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
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