Creative production elevates two very different tracks.
“Find My Way to You”
I’m With Her
Written by Sarah Jarosz and Aofie O’Donovan
Kevin John Coyne: I’ve never been a pure bluegrass fan, but I love the more progressive elements of that scene that subvert expectations. Granted, I only ever got as experimental as Nickel Creek, so it’s no surprise that this supergroup that features an NC alumnus hits my sweet spot.
I love the unexpected twists and turns that this song takes, experimenting with the form all the way until the end. But now the cool production tricks are paired with mature songwriting created by and for middle-aged adults. It’s the depth of the lyricism that kept me hooked after the instrumentation drew me in. A highlight from their most recent album. A
Jonathan Keefe: What I love about the I’m With Her project is that I can always guess what permutation of the three artists contributed to writing a particular song. “Find My Way to You” bears the hallmarks of O’Donovan’s masterful contemporary folk and Jarosz’s progressive Bluegrass. And, as is so often the case with I’m With Her, the result is something that makes me wish that three of my favorite solo artists always recorded as a group. The alchemy of I’m With Her is truly something extraordinary.
On “Find My Way to You,” the quiet delivery of the verses belies the intensity of the trio’s performance. The notion of romantic longing drives this narrative, with a clear-eyed certainty that these two lovers won’t be kept apart. “Go ahead, try to hide / I got a nose like a dog in the woods / And a love like Mountain Laurel,” is such an evocative image, and it’s made all the more stirring because it’s delivered in exquisite three-part harmony.
Hard to say that this single is perfect when the two other tracks that have been released from their forthcoming album might be even better than this one, but “Find My Way to You” is certainly one of the year’s best to date. A
“Running / Planning”
CMAT
Written by Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson
JK: I’m thinking that the “country” half of CMAT’s upcoming Euro-Country might have been just a little overstated based on the production on “Running / Planning.” The bones are there, for sure, in the jangly acoustic guitar and fiddle in the opening few bars, and this Irish singer-songwriter has already proven her knack for pop-country on her earlier releases.
Really, it comes down to the drum loop being mixed way, way too loudly on this track for my liking. Especially in the first half of the track, that percussion distracts from those good bones and from a song that highlights CMAT’s wonderfully idiosyncratic lyricism. I mean it as a compliment that the human and unusual phrasing reminds me of Sabrina Carpenter, another act who could absolutely sell a line like, “I’ll rip the head off you, give it a new name / Buy it a Nintendo, get it all the games.”
And CMAT definitely sells this, gradually ratcheting up the intensity of her vocal performance over the course of the single. She has a sweeping and dramatic voice that’s quite well-suited to pop-country. While I’ll go to bat for “Running / Planning” as a pretty terrific pop single outside of some obtrusive drums, I’m hoping to hear more from her in a more decidedly country-leaning vein. B
KJC: I’m not sure it would’ve crossed my mind that this was tethered to country music if it wasn’t Jonathan’s recommendation for this roundup.
But who cares? The production on his record is wicked cool, just like it is on the I’m With Her record but living on a very different part of the popular music spectrum. CMAT delivers some vocal runs that remind me of the last Linda Ortega record, but with a warmth to her twang that’s more front porch sweet tea than Ortega’s Hot Topic aesthetic.
It’s not as technically impressive as the I’m With Her record, but there’s a good chance I’ll play this one more over time because it taps into my sweet tooth. B+
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