The tone and atmosphere of this Canadian singer’s fourth album is pitched somewhere between Willie Nelson and The Handsome Family.
The title for the collection references Matt Patershuk’s grandfather who endorsed the redemptive power of making an honest effort by saying that “God loves a trier”. Samuel Beckett put it in starker and more secular terms when gave the advice to “Try again. Fail Again. Fail better.”
No matter which of these sages you choose to trust, Patershuk effectively makes both all but irrelevant by singing of The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. This holds that “the universe tends towards disorder” and if this chaos theory is taken at face value, then no amount of effort, collective or individual, will make a great deal of difference.
However, in more pragmatic terms, I think the thrust of the notion of making ‘an honest effort’ is that the act itself can be seem as worthy in itself irrespective of the outcome.
So this record contains stories about folks trying to do their best often in the face of unfavourable odds. Johanna is a story about a lost woman. Sunny is a woman trapped in a bad situation. The advice to the latter is “It’s ok to run away.”
Turn the Radio Up about a middle-aged couple stuck in a rut at a time of life when running away is a more challenging option. Stay With Me is a more general scenario where keeping one’s head above deep water is the survival technique.
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Curiously, there are also a couple of stories about horses. Jupiter the Flying Horse was inspired by an old Barnum and Bailey circus poster; Clever Hans is about a horse that was claimed to have performed arithmetic and other intellectual tasks.
You’ll also find a tale of Shane MacGowan and his brand new teeth which is a somewhat laboured attempt to lighten the mood.
The slow building Afraid to Speak Her Name is improved by Steve Dawson’s slide guitar contribution and Fats Kaplin’s jaunty fiddle playing enhances 1.3 Miles. Other band members are Jeremy Holmes (bass and mandolin) ,Gary Craig (percussion) and Keri Latimer (backing vocals).
While there are riding rhythms any budding cowboy would appreciate, the subdued mood of this album means that these fall well short of a gallop.
It all serves to prove that existing between classic country and alternative noir is not an easy or entirely comfortable place to be.
Matt Patershuk’s website
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