A follow up to 2005's 'Fabletown', and Tim Scott's musical identity is coming together; 'Rarely Fall' comes into that well-populated musical territory where some pretty energetic rocking comes side by side with more atmospheric numbers. The latter have the country elements of pedal steel, dobro and mandolin brought to the fore and when the band you have behind you is as inventive and committed as the one Tim Scott has, then folk are going to prick up their ears.
I felt Fabletown was fine in the tunesmith's department but let down by oblique, uncommunicative lyrics. There is still something of that problem wirh 'Rarely Fall'. Too frequently, his lyrics arer either oblique to the point of obscurity or awkward in the attempt to be poetic.. 'Leaving A Clean Break', for example, is about the end of a relationship (a subject that sems to crop up frequently) and has the lines: 'Time ain't the prison now hear me say/ It gives us the chance to get things straight/ And fractured time is worse than leaving a clean break'. Now I don't think I'll be alone in finding that this neither gives me a window into Tim Scott's soul, nor resonates with my own experience.
There are songs, though, where greater directness and simplicity get his point across. 'Offer Up The Hand', for example, describes one of those long conversations deep into the night when friends open up to one another and has the ring of truthfully re-told experience about it. Elsewhere, he's been working on his story songs: 'Finally Got It Right' is succinct and sweet about lifelong love and the pleasingly prolix 'Baker's Dozen' follows his protagonist's journey away from Texas, around the world on a naval career and finally back to the Texas soil that bred him. This song rolls on long enough to take on a life of its own and I can easily imagine it being a highlight of a Tim Scott gig.
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The elements of 'Rarely Fall' don't always hang together, the tune not quite marrying the words effectively or the arrangement not quite matching the mood; consistently I felt that Tim Scott's vocals aren't forward enough in the mix but, having said that, it's definitely a grower. The character of each song is distinctive and though there's never quite a knockout punch there are enough little hooks and flourishes - from the drums, the pedal steel or from Eric Herbst's fine guitar playing - for 'Rarely Fall' to work its way into your affections.
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