Two Saviors
by Buck Meek

From Mercury 03/19/2021 14:48 | #267512

(Warm, welcoming little Indie Folk/Folk Rock album with some nice songs. This style is my jam and I liked it. Mileage may vary, especially if you are not looking for a relatively straight forward folk rock set of songs.)

I had never listened to solo Buck Meek. I knew him as Adrienne Lenker's ex-husband, and one of the driving forces of Big Thief. And I like Big Thief. And I love Adrienne Lenker's 2020 album. So, I figured I'd give this guy some time.

I'm glad I did. This is a solid album. I tend to be a sucker for singer/songwriter albums of the folk and indie folk rock persuasion, so this album stylistically is right up my alley. And as an Indie folk album it'ss, again, solid. The melodies are soft and float like feathers. Buck's voice is weak. No wait, I'm not saying that as an insult. I am just saying his voice sounds like it will crack at any moment and the way he expresses himself vocally always seems to be on the edge of disappearing in a fit of coughs or ... something. Can't explain it. He just ain't loud, okay?

The production throughout the album is messy. Sometimes this is kind of cool in a slacker lo-fi way, but mostly it tends to distract me from the otherwise pretty songs. The way the instruments and the occasional harmony meld with each other just sounds slightly wrong to me.

The songs themselves are good, and pull from many facets of old americana folk. None of the songs truly stand out as a triumph of the forms being used. But as I have only heard the album a couple times, who knows maybe a song or 2 will burrow itself deep in my mind. We shall see. The songs most likely to do that are the rocking "Cannonball Pt. 2" with its disgusting, distorted electric guitar riffs spicing up the piano-driven folk rock tune... what else... Oh maybe I will revisit "Two Moons". Its quality folk goodness. Finally, "Dream Daughter" is actually a great song that kinda sorta made me almost get misty eyed.

And lyrically, snap judgment here based off very little close listening, the album isn't great. I don't here much in the way of lyrical ingenuity or memorable turns-of-phrase.

Okay, so in closing, if you like Big Thief you will probably like this. If you like Indie Folk, ditto. As an whole album, as a whole cohesive creation, this has a nice warm quality to it, although the production is a bit muddy and most of the songs aren't memorable.