| Raine Maida —The Hunters Lullaby |
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Artist: |
Raine Maida |
Album: |
The Hunters Lullaby |
Genre: |
Folk/Alternative/Poetry |
Rating: |
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Bottom
Line: |
Our Lady Peace front man releases a surprising and intriguing solo record. |
Folk albums are a lot like science fiction movies in that the market typically has room for only one of them at any given point in time. So while people were busy talking about the new collaborative folk record from Alison Krauss and that guy from Led Zeppelin, it was easy to overlook this new release from Raine Maida, which, incidentally, is the more adventurous release of the two.
Our Lady Peace has a clearly defined sound in the alternative rock world, and Raine Mada’s voice stamps a definitive signature on top of it. While that defined voice is evident on The Hunters Lullaby, the music bears little resemblance to the band in which Maida makes his primary musical home. In this collection of ten songs, the delivery is a cross between folk rock and a poetry reading, with an occasional nod to alternative rock and hip hop. It’s something Bob Dylan or Lou Reed might have given us in the Seventies had they been backed by an upright bass player and a drum machine, but Maida delivers his original fare with a modern flair.
The lead single, “Yellow Brick Road” is a superb track that delivers a story of youth set to a catchy hip hop beat with Raine’s traditional vocal styling, which is thoroughly captivating in an alternative rock way. “The Snake and The Crown” is another especially moving track, and the sparse arrangements comprised primarily of subtle drums, upright bass, acoustic piano, and haunting backing vocals are extremely powerful in their delivery.
The entire album is dark and moody, with a very airy and live sound to it. Maida’s also-famous songstress wife, Chantal Kreviazuk, performs very emotive (and sometimes frightening sounding) piano throughout the record, and some strings and accordion show up in a few spots, too.
The focus of this solo record is clearly the delivery of stories and poems set to a musical backdrop. Listening to the deadpan poetry vocal delivery of songs like “Sex, Love, and Honey” or the opening track, “Careful What You Wish For,” we can’t help but picture someone driving up in the background at an outdoor café poetry reading to shout “three V-dubs for under $17,000” (if you’re one of our foreign readers, this reference may not make much sense unless you google it and watch the Volkswagen commercial that we were inundated with in the US this past fall).
A few tracks like “Confessional” and “Rat Race” have a borderline OLP feel, but overall, Maida really stuck to doing his own thing with this release and created what is truly an original artistic offering. We plan to talk with Maida next month about the record, so check it out.
— SK |
