Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound (June 16, 2017) Album • Page 12

First impression is that this is really great. Way more immediate than SMTF, and I'm so excited to play it all summer.

 

We have CONFLICT!!

 

Have a slew of discombobulated thoughts to post at some point later today, but right now I'll just say that after 3.5 listens I'm definitely anything but let down.

 

Think it's about Ryan Adams, Mandy Moore and Taylor Goldsmith?

 

Hahah

So something I'm struggling with here is the lyrics in this album steer dangerously close to his "saddest country song ever" skit at times.

 

Example?

 

Aren't Jason and Ryan buds?

 

Yeah I haven't listened yet but aren't him and Ryan friends? Or do they not like each other?

 

"Tried to go to college but they laughed at mah boots"

 

Boooo I love every line of "Last of My Kind"

 

This is more immediate than SMTF for me. I love both, but Something took me a bit more time to love, beyond "Speed Trap Town" which I adored right away. This one hit me on first listen.

 

I still love it, just thought it was kinda funny.

 

Does your copy have the song about the lady whose car got blown up by a cannon?

 

I cannot wait for the kids to go to bed so I can give this a proper listen.... This guy is amazong.

 

Bonus track

 

Jealous!

 

I'm absolutely loving this. It's kind of a mindfuck going from new bleachers to this, but it's also sort of working in a weird way. I love his sound on Something to Love. Anxiety is going to take a little getting used to for me, mostly because I came in to Jason on Southeastern so I'm not used to the big rockers (initially I wasn't a big fan of super 8, for example). Still not sure of the outro on Anxiety is necessary. This album definitely feels like he's taking some steps forward and trying new things. I'm not complaining, I just need to go through and listen through it again. I have that urge to hit repeat after my first listen (which has been kind of scattered throughout the day -- got the first four songs at like 1:00 this afternoon, the middle two at like 5:00, and just got through the last ones). I'll sit down with it in full tonight or tomorrow morning and let it settle in.

 

Woah, "Chaos and Clothes" definitely sounds like it's about RA. All the previously mentioned references, and also the line "Name all the monsters you've killed" made me think of "I See Monsters" right away

 

The song is framed like one friend speaking to another about how to move on from a breakup so it's definitely well-intentioned and I'm 90% sure it's about Ryan Adams. Also my favorite song on the album I think.

"She took your heart and wrapped it 'round an oak tree like you did that '67 GTO, oh no..."

 

They're buds. They've done cover songs together before.

 

They also went on an acoustic tour together when Jason was first getting sober and no one knew who the fuck he was

 

Oh that's cool! I've only recently gotten into both of them, and now both are in my top favorite artists. Glad to know they are friends

 

This is a really wonderful record. Far too soon to say where it stands for me personally relative to his last three records, but it definitely feels like Jason's music has really grown and progressed to another level yet again. My only genuine complaint is that he tried to rhyme "wishes" with "facetious" on "Molotov" haha. Early favorites for me--besides the tracks I heard in some form before the record--are "Tupelo," "Something to Love" and "White Man's World" (which I didn't listen to pre-leak).

This is definitely a more personal record a la Southeastern in that it's pretty emotionally bare/revealing and the ratio of "Jason songs" to "character songs," if you will, definitely feels higher than on Something More than Free. I know that this sounds ridiculous for a guy who wrote songs like "Cover Me Up" and "Different Days" but I'd maybe go out on a limb and say this is his most personal record yet. I feel like Jason reveals a whole lot of himself here, beyond just the story of his journey from the depths of addiction into sobriety and health and love that we glimpsed on Southeastern.

The blending of personal, political, nostalgic and even humorous tones feels really refreshing here. It's at times a dead-serious and purposeful record ("White Man's World," "Cumberland Gap"), at times a desperate and almost despairing record ("Anxiety," "Last of My Kind," "If We Were Vampires"), at other times a very sweet and compassionate record ("Something to Love"), and at still other times a light-hearted record (the "which drawer to put the good knives in" line from "Tupelo" springs to mind; I smile at that one every time and it's such a brilliant little vignette from what sounds like a typically strained middle-aged relationship). It's hard for me not to compare this record to A Sailor's Guide to Earth (Sturgill Simpson) in that both albums address the artist's first child directly and are obviously influenced by the experience of fatherhood; both records are firmly rooted in the societal and political reality of the present day; and both records reveal a lot about the artist's backstory through a blending of character songs and more biographical pieces.

This also is absolutely 100% Jason's most country-sounding record and I am completely thrilled about that. The "return to rock" aspect of this record was probably overhyped; I'd classify it more as a "step away from the singer-songwriter model" type of record. If Jason continues the Springsteen-esque method of mixing in full-band records and more solo-oriented records across his career I'd be pretty content.

This is a very strong record, I'll absolutely be listening to it dozens or even hundreds of times this summer and this year, and I am incredibly excited to see him live again in just under four weeks. Here's to hoping we get a date with Amanda this time!

 

Well shit Chris you basically just wrote half of what I said in my review of this. Haha, agreed on just about everything. Definitely his most personal, definitely his most country oriented, and definitely very comparable to Sailor's Guide in how it balances family and politics. We see pretty eye to eye on this one.

 

Oh I also forgot this: AOTY. Sorry Fleet Foxes