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is the first record where we ’ ve all written songs that reference these things , whereas all the conversations around our band — when it came to me — have always been about my gender and my feminism . But that was never IN the material ; that was never IN the records . Iain and Martin pointed it out to me the other day that this was the first time I was getting asked about lyrics .” She pauses , weighing the significance . “ Maybe I just did a good job on this record , or maybe these lyrics are better than my previous ones ,” she ponders . “ But isn ’ t it mad that my job is writing those words and singing those words , and basically nobody ever asks me about them — all they ever ask me is what do I think of # metoo and why do I hate men so much ? That ’ s a pretty odd way to spend your creative career , I think .”
Or it simply could be a case of a composer rising to an elevated and multi-layered thematic challenge like Screen Violence . The titular screen alone could denote the hypnotic faces of our omnipresent cellphones and handheld devices , which hold our attention whenever we ’ re not planted in front of our watchful Big Brother work computers . Then there is our sanity-maintaining — perhaps life-saving , in some cases — home TV screens , where we all sought refuge during the pandemic lockdown , exploring a brave new world of streaming-service opportunities . Amplify the metaphor to IMAX magnitude , and you ’ ve got those familiar old movie-theater screens , now dusted off after a year of disuse and ready for business , wherein watching once-traditional summer blockbusters like F9becomes something of an existential question . Do I really want to huddle with the potentially unvaccinated masses just to watch Vin Diesel crash increasingly expensive automobiles ? Or would I rather sit quietly at home , stream it later with microwave popcorn , and not risk any insidious illness . Because — as scientists are now discovering — our coronavirus antagonist is going nowhere , and it just might have chosen the loge seat right next to yours . So which screen do you prefer ? Your choice probably reveals a lot about who you really are and whether or not you ’ ve learned any life-transforming
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lessons from our shared , globe-spanning experience in 2020 .
The flickering cathode X-ray imagery of Screen Violence , oddly enough , had their beginnings in the real-life VistaVision panoramas of Southern California , which Mayberry and Doherty grew both familiar with and fond of after relocating to L . A . to further their extracurricular songwriting collaborations two years ago . Veteran studio whiz Cook — who wisely added thennewcomer Mayberry ’ s sprightly vocals to his undulating synth soundscapes ( alongside Doherty ’ s fluid guitar lines ) back in 2011 , an experiment that led to Chvrches ’ deft The Bones of What You Believe debut in 2013 — remained behind in Scotland while his bandmates journeyed West , several lucky months before Covid-19 hit . Doherty was an old hand at professional sessions ,
but it was a whole new frontier to Mayberry . And she took assignments as they came , learning on the job .
“ So the two of us would go in and work with another artist on something , but it wasn ’ t like an ‘ L . A . writing room ’ in the big scary sense ,” recalls the vocalist , who acclimated so well to the new surroundings she penned a Screentrack about it , the twang-guitar-gilded thumper “ California ,” with its jarring lyrical caveat “ You ’ ll die in California .” “ But I never wrote for anybody that wasn ’ t myself , and I never thought about things from anyone else ’ s point of view in that way . But there ’ s just something that feels so wholesome about asking somebody else what it is that they ’ re trying to say and then lyrically trying to figure out a way to help them say that . I feel like that ’ s more nourishing than just writing songs to put in a pile and sell to somebody that you ’ ve never met , you know ? So I think this has been a really good thing for our own writing , as well .”
Were there occasional charges the duo was tasked with helping who didn ’ t pan out ? Yes , Mayberry chuckles , not naming names . “ There were , uh , some vibes that have been trickier , where I ’ m like , ‘ Huh . Do we really want to talk about that ? Okay . I guess we will !’ But so much of our writing for the last ten years has ended up being very much about US , so it ’ s been a
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STEVE DAWSON At The Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree
( Pravda )
As frontman for Chicago ’ s Dolly Varden , Steve Dawson has cultivated his status as a local roots-pop institution . Following 2013 ’ s For a While and a pair of albums with jazz-folk ensemble Funeral Bonsai Wedding including last year ’ s acclaimed Last Flight Out , Dawson returns with his most cohesive and intimate statement . At the Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree overflows with loss , sadness , and melancholy , but leans upon a quiet resilience . It ’ s a portrait of a wounded and weary spirit , gathering strength and creeping back into the light . The song cycle begins with the soulful and understated “ This is All There Is ,” telling the hard truth . “ It ’ s not gonna be all right ,” sings Dawson . “ In my dreams I ’ m always running but never arriving anywhere ,” he sings during “ She Knew ,” further describing a life of struggle during the restrained and captivating acoustic lament . The song offers gratitude to a mother who was always aware that troubled times were inevitable . “ Honey , you always worry too much ,” she chides in her resolute pose . “ I made a wish , it did not come true ,” Dawson confesses during the vulnerable “ The Spaces in Between ,” a song rendered more cheerful by Michael Miles ’ sprightly banjo . “ I found other things to do ,” Dawson adds to complete the rhyme , adapting and surviving . The album ’ s overall sound will appeal to fans of heartland songsmiths like Wilco ’ s Jeff Tweedy and pop harmonists like the Jayhawks ’ Gary Louris . The arrangements of fare like the yearning , waltz-time “ Beautiful Mathematics ” echo Laurel Canyon craft , while leaving ample room for Dawson ’ s haunted and expressive vocals . “ Hard Time Friend ” draws from the Jackson Browne playbook , with a keening melody , Alton Smith ’ s sparkling piano , dripping slide guitar and a heart-on-sleeve lyric about a battered soul reaching out for the hand of a steadfast partner – and thankfully finding it . “ 22 Rubber Bands ” is slinky R & B-pop a la World Party , celebrating the soul-saving purpose of becoming one ’ s best self to care for a beloved child . The album ’ s forlorn but anthemic title cut is reminiscent of Neil Young ’ s “ Cortez the Killer .” The reverb-soaked twang and fuzz of Dawson ’ s guitar and his expansive , melancholy solo should adapt well as a concert highlight for band dates . The song
speaks of being stung by the past , but striving to undo the damage . “ We are Walking in a Forest ” is a gentle duet with Dolly Varden ’ s Diane Christiansen . The song spins a dream of aging alongside a trusted partner until the inevitable end separates even the most devoted of couples . In tune with the rest of the album , love and gratitude shimmer through the cracks in the sadness .
– Jeff Elbel
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LEON BRIDGES Gold-Diggers Sound
( Columbia )
Leon Bridges fame snuck on him in 2015 . The acclaim , the adulation , and fawning audiences . We should have such problems , right ? But if you ’ re not emotionally prepared for it , it seems fleeting . And as it turns out black audiences weren ’ t impressed by his soul revivalist debut . It ’ s always hardest to impress your peers . His follow-up Good Thing forged a new revivalist path where Bridges seemed more comfortable , and it was yolked with the Neo soul grooves of new contemporaries like Maxwell . Gold-Diggers Sound is the self proclaimed organic record where Bridges seems to really found a home and listening to the Dolby Atmos mixed version of it grows deep in the soil , with Marvin Gaye as a vintage reference point , replete with jazzy soulful grooves on “ Motorbike .” His protest singer alter-ego “ Sweeter ,” adds his voice to the outrage over the deaths of unarmed Black men in 2020 , and was performed at last year ’ s DNC . Bridges is probably greatest as a crooner and “ Sho Nuff ,” finds him near his best . The funky “ Steam ” recalls a Heatwave groove meshed with Bridges loving warble .
As great as it is great to hear Bridges in
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