New music

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/10/2024 (196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROCK

Bright Eyes
Five Dice, All Threes (Dead Oceans)

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the indie-rock explosion has been the freedom enjoyed by musicians. Working without the restrictive pressures of major labels and careerist managers, performers such as Jack White, Sufjan Stevens, Annie Clark and Phoebe Bridgers, have felt free to explore — sometimes in different partnerships and projects, sometimes by stretching the limits of their own music, and other times by doing a little bit of both.

Conor Oberst, the leader of Bright Eyes, is one such peripatetic talent. Over the years, he has taken his world-weary sadness and aching, quavering voice to Desparecidos, Monsters of Folk and Better Oblivion Community Center, among others, and he and bandmates Nate Walcott and Mike Mogis even put Bright Eyes on hiatus for nine years before reappearing in 2020 with Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was.

Mogis, the production whiz of the trio, has all kinds of fun on the band’s 11th studio album, inserting classic movie soundtrack quotes between songs (and into songs) and adding all manner of stringed instruments — check out the discordant, distorted guitar solo that flies in from nowhere on Bells and Whistles, the jaunty banjo in Bas Jan Ader or the exquisite Spanish guitar in Real Feel 105°.

Walcott, too, pulls out all the stops, as his piano is often this record’s main instrument, giving it a grand, American indie sound.

As for Oberst — while the 44-year-old singer/songwriter seems to be mulling over the melancholy aspects of middle age and modern life (check out the lyrics to El Capitan or Rainbow Overpass), he also has plenty of winking, absurdist fun. The song Hate is essentially a list of dislikes and defeatist tropes, and he and Chan (Cat Power) Marshall weave a deadpan collection of ridiculous scenarios into a haunting, relatively minimalist quasi-torch song.

Oberst may even belie his misanthropic reputation on Rainbow Overpass, a juddering, punkish kiss-off on which he sings that he’s not shutting down, he’s “just shutting up,” and that he’s not slowing down, he’s “speeding up.”

★★★★ out of 5 stars

Stream these songs: Bells and Whistles; El Capitan; Tin Soldier Boy

— John Kendle

 

POP

Michael Bublé
The Best of Bublé (Warner Music)

For Michael Bublé aficionados, The Best of Bublé is a gift — a celebration of the Canadian singer’s best work, with a couple of previously unreleased songs thrown in.

Bublé rose to fame in the early ’00s for his capacity to take staple songs from the worlds of jazz, blues and the Great American Songbook and make them his own through his angelic and controlled vocal tone. He was quickly celebrated, too, for his original hits, many of which are present on this album: Home, Haven’t Met You Yet and Everything.

The only thing missing on the album are any of his Christmas songs. After all, he’s the King of Christmas — a role second only to Mariah Carey.

The new unreleased songs illustrate his range and elastic approach to genre.

Don’t Blame It On Me brings out the cheery side of Bublé. Beneath his voice are lively horns that fill a room, handclaps and acoustic guitars, a dance that makes it absolutely impossible to hear without smiling.

While Quizás, Quizás, Quizás, a cover of a Cuban classic written by Osvaldo Farrés and made famous by Bobby Capó, allows Bublé to show off in Spanish.

Those songs placed next to his best-known material makes the album the perfect present for his diehard followers and an accelerated crash course for any newcomers wanting to familiarize themselves with his particular talents.

The Best of Bublé is a beautiful and nostalgic journey, one best consumed while sipping a dirty martini in an art nouveau bar, channeling a past time. His bossa nova takes the listener on a journey.

★★★★ out of five

Stream: Haven’t Met You Yet; Don’t Blame it on Me; Home

— Martina Inchingolo, The Associated Press

 

Jazz

Bryn Roberts
Aloft (Elastic)

The piano-led jazz trio has been one of the basic formats of the genre since the beginning. While there are many styles within that statement, this album is a fine example of just how delightful the piano-led trio can be. Think Bill Evans from another day.

Winnipegger and pianist Bryn Roberts is now busy predominantly as a sideman in the U.S., but this new album gives him a chance to shine on his own with some excellent partners. The trio is international featuring bassist Matt Penman originally from New Zealand and drummer Quincy Davis from the States, although he has lots of friends here from his time on the faculty of the U of M jazz program.

This album is thoroughly enjoyable, accessible and wonderfully delivered. There will always be room for music of this quality. Bryn’s playing is totally solid and in charge. Tracks such as Stevedore Cosplay swing mightily while ballads such as the title track and Amaryllis move around lovely melodies and gentle solos from all members. Penman’s bass on Aloft is a standout. Kurt Weill’s My Ship gives that beautiful melody a worthy interpretation.

Five of the seven tracks are compositions by Bryn and reflect the maturity and scope of his writing. Steen’s Scene, for example, is a medium tempo treat with a blues feel driven by both Penman and Davis. Let’s Agree (That You Agree With Me) is delivered with the sense of cheek that the title implies.

Jazz folks will always say that one of the reasons they love jazz is that there is music for all emotions and moods. This album checks all the boxes for sheer enjoyment that leaves one with a smile and a sense that all is well.

★★★★ out of five

Stream: Steen’s Scene; Aloft

— Keith Black

 

CLASSICAL

Anton Bruckner, Anima Eterna Brugge
Symphony No. 4, Romantic (Harmonia Mundi)

The 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner’s birth is celebrated as Pablo Heras-Casado leads Anima Eterna Brugge through Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, a.k.a. the Romantic.

Composed in 1874 and revised numerous times until 1888 – this recording being the second version of three, as edited by Leopold Nowak – the four-movement work originally premièred in 1881 to great acclaim.

Particularly noteworthy is the ensemble’s incorporation of period instruments, including valve trombones in lieu of slides, shorter trumpets in F, and even a smaller tuba that creates more transparent textures than normally heard in Bruckner’s “cathedrals in sound.”

It’s also what the composer and his audience would have experienced; always fascinating to 21st century ears, while forcing a re-imagining of its tightly-knit, typically more densely-packed orchestration.

After a rousing opening movement with its three thematic groups, Heras-Casado launches into the second, with its soulful melody first rendered by the cellos. A particular highlight is the subsequent Scherzo, completely re-written after the first version, with the brass bringing to life its hunting horn motif with rhythmic precision, followed by the more melodic Trio. The finale titled Volksfest, or “people’s festival” brings the performance to an enthralling close, with Heras-Casado leading the orchestra with gusto throughout in his first, promising collaboration with the Harmonia Mundi label.

★★★★ stars out of five

Stream: Symphony No. 4 in E flat major; Romantic, Scherzo; Volksfest

– Holly Harris