By Steven Wine
Eliza Gilkyson issues a call to action on ‘2020’
Eliza Gilkyson, “2020” (Red House) We can still congregate in song, as Eliza Gilkyson shows on “2020.”
The Austin, Texas-based folk singer recorded the politically charged 10-tune set as an election-year call for solidarity against forces of division and hatred. As it happens, the album is being released in a moment of physical distancing, making Gilkyson’s singalong anthems of unity and community even more powerful.
“2020” rides an undercurrent of outrage, and the band, led by guitarist Mike Hardwick, gives the arrangements a punch to match the lyrics. But Gilkyson’s lean-in alto isn’t strident; instead, she invites others to join her in song.
“We are conjuring our forces, and coming face to face with every fear. But there is comfort in our voices, reminding us of all that we hold dear,” she sings on “We Are Not Alone.” It’s as if she foresaw a pandemic.
“My Heart Aches” laments complacency, “Sooner or Later” forecasts a revolution, and “Promises to Keep” is a call to act, making them like chapters in a book. Gilkyson finds fresh meaning in Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” - speaking of prescient - and even in Pete Seeger’s creaky “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”
And then there’s the extraordinary “Beach Haven,” with Gilkyson putting to music a 1952 letter Woody Guthrie wrote complaining about segregationist policies at a Brooklyn apartment complex owned by Fred Trump, father of the current president.
“We could shake hands together and get together,” goes the chorus, words more poignant now than ever.
Kesha, “High Road” (Kemosabe/RCA Records) Kesha’s new album starts out on a portentous and soaring note with the singer on the opening song “Tonight” in full Broadway mode, belting out “Take me out toooonniiiigghht.” But 40 seconds in, it dissolves into a messy club banger complete with random expletives, crowd screams, a lost phone and the singer high and drunk as she readies to hit the town. In other words, welcome back, Kesha. “High Road” is Kesha at her wonderfully anarchic, tipsy, profound and goofy best. Few artists can portray themselves as silly, airy party girls and then utterly subvert that very image, all in the same song. “I don’t do that dance,” she warns us on the new album. “I only do my own dance.”
“High Road” has a complex mix of textures, ranging from the gospel-influenced dance hall of “Raising Hell” with Big Freedia to the somber country of “Resentment” with Sturgill Simpson, Wrabel and Brian Wilson. Kesha can go from quietly singing about a lover’s alienation with a revered Beach Boy to “Birthday Suit,” a horny, cornball ditty that uses ’80s video game sounds to seduce a lover (“You got any secret tattoos?”).
It wouldn’t be a Kesha record without some funny recorded vignettes - in one, the Spice Girls are gently mocked - or bizarre songs that are strangely addictive, like the utterly oddball, tuba-led “Potato Song (Cuz I Want To).” That’s not to mean she can’t drop the zaniness and deliver a devastating emotional punch, as she does in “Father Daughter Dance,” a heartbreaking ode to living without a parent.
She can go from the carefully processed, naughty banger “Kinky” to the stripped-down acoustic twang of “Cowboy Blues.” Her lyrics are often clever throughout: “Don’t circumcise my circumstance,” she sings in one song. “Go get your shadow out of my sunshine,” she offers in another. Kesha even mocks an old self on “Kinky” by crediting the feature performance to “Ke$ha”).
Another highlight is the sweet “BFF,” which is both incredibly specific to Kesha - rehab, tattoo, dark times, Grammys - and also a sweet ode to friendship. Pebe Sebert, Kesha’s mom, is a co-writer and offers backup vocals. “You build me up/When I’m feeling low, low, low.” That’s also what Kesha does best. Welcome back. Marcus King, “El Dorado” (Fantasy Records) Marcus King’s solo debut is an enticing mix of deep soul, rock and country in the best Southern traditions.
King, though just 23 years old, has been a professional musician for over a decade and already has three albums with the Marcus King Band.
Produced and co-written by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, “El Dorado” is a smoothly-paced release, with acoustic-based and mid-tempo soul tunes amid a few fuzzy rockers with cutting guitars and rumbling bass.
You could say King has been “Auerbached,” with the producer’s distinct approach - shaped by recording in his own Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville and relying on the timeless talent of legends like drummer Gene Chrisman, bassist David Roe and Bobby Wood’s Wurlitzer - putting a definitely noticeable but elegantly unintrusive frame around King’s own skills.
Auerbach won a Grammy way back in 2013 for his production work, and his quality control hasn’t let up since. This project follows, in a similar vein, some of his recent efforts on outstanding albums by Yola, The Pretenders, Robert Finley and Kendell Marvel.
King is known for his volcanic vocals and his amazing six-string dexterity. But “El Dorado” finds King, a South Carolina native now based in Nashville, mostly dialing down the overall volume without sacrificing intensity or feeling. By putting his songwriting and more nuanced singing at the fore, King expands his guitar hero profile with excellent results.
King’s instrumental prowess is present, but the 12 songs usually have at least two or three other guitarists on hand, including Auerbach himself, steel guitarist Paul Franklin, Nashville stalwart Billy Sandford and Russ Pahl.
Songs range from the countryish “Young Man’s Dream” and “Too Much Whiskey” to the thumping “The Well” and the tortured soul of “One Day She’s Here,” where King sounds a bit like a restrained CeeLo Green.
The slight but enjoyable “Sweet Mariona” precedes the mysterious and yearning “Beautiful Stranger,” which has an air of Aretha Franklin’s “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man.”
The faster tracks on the second half are highlighted by more of that swampy fuzz (“Say You Will”) and a clavinet played by Mike Rojas that lives up to its funky reputation on “Say You Will.”
Despite this solo venture, King is in the midst of an extended tour with his namesake band that includes shows in Europe, Japan and Australia. Even this early in the year, “El Dorado” already stands out as a definite high point of 2020.