This week’s reviews of new albums include a couple of female artists who have made impacts beyond their own albums, a pair of veteran guitar pop acts that continue to impress and a newer pop act that’s injecting unique instrumentation and lyrical ambition into their music. Enjoy!
Mandy Rowden: “Parachute”
Rowden has been making her mark for years in her home base of Austin, not just as a live performer and recording artist, but as founder of the music school and workshop for women called Girl Guitar. Her fourth album, “Parachute,” shows that Rowden is well qualified to help fellow musicians develop their skills as songwriters and players. As a lyricist, she writes well-considered examinations on life and love with candor, humility and hard-won self-assurance. Rowden’s music matches her lyrical acumen. Her songs on “Parachute” drop anchor on a wide range of Americana/roots musical styles, including acoustic balladry on “Peace Where I Used To Have None” and “Christmas With You,” a mid-tempo anthem, “Sing Hallelujah,” and the rockers “Ghosts on the Arkansas,” a Neil Young & Crazy Horse-ish track. A true triple threat as a songwriter, musician (she played most of the instruments on the album) and singer, Rowden is an underappreciated talent on the Americana scene. “Parachute” could give her the breakthrough she deserves.
Greta Gaines: “Pale Star”
Gaines has all sorts of notables in her background. Her father wrote the bodybuilding tales “Pumping Iron” and “Stay Hungry” and invented the game of paintball. Her mother was a Miss Alabama contestant, while her two brothers have written music for films, ballet and theater. Greta herself was a pioneering champion woman snowboarder and is a prominent pro-cannabis activist. And yes, she has made a name for herself in music, and her sixth studio album, “Pale Star,” is arguably her musical high point thus far. With thoughtful lyrics reflecting the challenges and lessons learned from the pandemic, Gaines retains her edgy Americana sound on the new album. Standout songs include the rockers “Giving Up The Ghost” and “Everafter,” the ballads “Angel of Mercy” and “Apollo” and the robust mid-tempo track “Giving Up The Ghost.” “Pale Star” figures to please existing fans of Gaines, while serving as a fine entry point for those wanting to acquaint themselves with her music.
Ryan Allen: “What A Rip”
Power pop as a genre has existed now for nearly 50 years, so it’s a lot to expect for a band to bring anything innovative to this timeless style of music. And Allen, a veteran on the scene, isn’t reinventing the power-pop form with his band Extra Arms. What he does is write songs with crisper arrangements and bigger hooks than most of his power-pop peers. On “What A Rip,” Allen splits the difference between hard-rocking songs (the punk-ish “Get to The Gig” and the retro-ish pop-rocker “Look In My Eyes”) and several strong ballads (the dreamy “Shannon Cake” and the Beatles-esque “Only Sun.”). “What A Rip” is another solid effort from the prolific Allen, who has also just released a fun and (mostly) loud guitar-drenched six-song solo EP, “Digital Hiss.” He just keeps the good stuff coming.
The Stan Laurels: “There Is No Light Without the Dark”
John Lathrop, who records under the band name The Stan Laurels, has been showing for a decade now that he’s one of the better practitioners of rocking pop in the vein of Teenage Fanclub, Big Star or Jellyfish. Part of what separates Lathrop’s songs from the pack (besides his talent for melody) are his adventurous arrangements. The mid-tempo track “November” is a good example of the way Lathrop’s songs take unexpected turns, moving from winsome verses and choruses into a pretty guitar solo and brief piano part before bursting into a rocking instrumental segment that winds out the song. There are more delights where that come from, as Lathrop shows he’s adept at both ballads (“On Paper” and “Mateo’s Song”) and rockers (“This Is Your Life,” “Mo Collins” and “Florida Man”). Despite the name the Stan Laurels, which obviously is associated with comedy, “There Is No Light Without the Dark” shows Lathrop is out to make seriously good and timeless pop music.
Bhopal’s Flowers: “Astroemeria — A Journey on Earth & Beyond”
It’s been a while since I’ve heard an album that makes prominent use of the sitar. But that rather exotic instrument (made popular by the Beatles and Ravi Shankar) is deployed frequently on Bhopal’s Flowers’ second album, “Astroemeria — A Journey on Earth & Beyond.” The sitar helps give standout songs like “1221 Jasmin Street,” “A Night At The Devachan” and “Moon Earth Jupiter” a psychedelic dimension, but it doesn’t hide the fact that at their heart, Bhopal’s Flowers is a band of pop traditionalists who repeatedly imbue their songs with plenty of melody. “Astroemeria” is billed as a concept album that maps a 24-hour cycle in which each song is linked to a time of day or night. That concept may be a bit too esoteric to resonate with some listeners. Fortunately, most of the songs succeed simply on their musical merits, so a deep dive into the lyrical theme isn’t required to enjoy “Astroemeria.”
Music writer Alan Sculley is a contributor to The Morning Call. Alan can be reached at alanlastword@gmail.com
