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SON VOLT
Okemah and the Melody of Riot (Transmit Sound/Legacy)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz
It didn't take me long to warm up to Okemah and the Melody of Riot, the newest effort from the reborn, reformed Son Volt; it took me all of one song, to be precise. I grew up in a rural setting where the idea of country music was Garth Brooks and the predominant notion was that the genre's great artists - Jennings, Cash and others - had already long passed their zenith. I had to grow up, move out to the hazy smog filled skies of an urban setting, find a band like Son Volt and albums like Trace and Wide Swing Tremelo to discover that the genius of country music was still amid an evolution.
It will soothe long adoring Son Volt fans to know that even in their reborn form (leader Jay Farrar is the only returning member) their raw, nascent best garage band in America feeling is still alive. Songs like "Jet Pilot" and "Atmosphere" cast no aspersions to being polished, mid-dial country radio compositions. Jay Farrar drives, with his mournfully rebellious guitar and penchant for the vocal evocations of Neil Young, a revival of music filled with foot tapping honesty. Okemah can be viewed as a rock album in the truest sense that it has a paean to instruments and recording, "Gramophone," memorable like Elvis Costello's "Radio, Radio" and the Velvet's "Rock and Roll." A song like "Ipecac" makes for that perfect mid-album, mid-tempo song, so evocative that its leftist political leanings are obscured. That, in a pop rock world seemingly obsessed with overt lyrical turns, is a sign of Farrar's masterful songwriting. For all the possible descriptors of Okemah as a straight forward piece of work, it is perhaps the album's slight deviation "Medication" that turns out to be its most stirring. It is a song seemingly beyond metaphor, strongly sourced in a pow-wow tradition, proving Farrar's innate ability to both whip his audience into a froth, and to know the right time to let them close their eyes and wonder.
Aside from the apparently awesome musical scope here, there is a second more advantageous version of Okemah for those who can utilize it. The Dual Disc contains enhanced stereo versions of all the songs, playable with lyric menus, and an introspective half hour documentary about the formation of the album. Jay Farrar appears to be that tightly wound artist, arms folded up in his chest while he gives his best insight into process. The documentary folds this interview in with unleashed, live versions of some of Son Volt's finest work, both on stage and in studio. The newer, enhanced versions of CD's always need to come with the proviso that proper technology will be necessary. In this case an SACD player, ideally fitting with DVD audio capability is recommended.
© 2005 - Erick Mertz