Monday, September 21, 2015

album review: 'illinois' by brett eldredge

So one of the trends I probably haven't given the same time of day to in mainstream country is the slow trickling in of more R&B influences. It's not all that surprising, given the huge growth of R&B on pop radio, and as soon as Jason Aldean's 'Burn It Down' was a huge hit, it didn't surprise me others would gun for a similar sound. 

And like with bro-country, I'm more conflicted than outright negative towards this slicker, more metropolitan brand of country music. On the one hand, the increased usage of drum machines tends to irk me because it can lead to choppy, groove-lacking records like Sam Hunt's Montevallo or Luke Bryan's Kill The Lights, and given the modern association with hip-hop I can see why country fans might recoil from R&B, but on the other hand if handled well that spacier sound can lead to solidly melodic, more groove-driven albums. I may not have loved Billy Currington's last album Summer Forever or Dustin Lynch's Where It's At, but aside from being one of the few people who remembered those records exist I also remember there being cuts I liked. Hell, even though the Zac Brown Band's Jekyll + Hyde was a genre-bending mess, there were experiments that worked off of that album. What I'm ultimately saying is that while I get the antipathy from country purists, especially with this material clogging up mainstream country radio riding the trends, this isn't that far removed conceptually from the vintage pop that Lindi Ortega or Whitney Rose pull from, nor the psychedelic rock for Sturgill Simpson or the more progressive rock tendencies for that last Jason Isbell record.

As such, I wasn't certain what to expect with the sophomore record from Brett Eldredge called Illinois. Early buzz was suggesting he was going more towards that 'metropolitan' sound, mostly thanks to the backing of producer Ross Copperman, who did a lot of excellent production work on Dierks Bentley's last album. And I'll say it, the presence of Thomas Rhett as a guest star, the poster child for calling his brand of vintage pop/R&B garbage 'country music' did not raise my spirits. But on the other hand, Brett Eldredge is a good songwriter with a distinctive voice, and I really did love the warped melodies against the acoustic grooves of 'Lose My Mind' and I hoped at least this could at least be salvaged. So what did we get?

Honestly, I was expecting this record to be a lot worse than it is, because Illinois by Brett Eldredge is not bad. Is it great? No - it's too messy, sloppily produced, lacking cohesion and great songwriting to rise to any level of respectable quality. But it's not terrible, and I think the difference in my judgement comes in that I'm not really slotting this as anything beyond overly-synthetic pop country and evaluating it by more of a pop standard. And on that level, it's less of a genre bending atrocity than a sophomore slump with a few good songs and a lot of interchangeable filler. Hell, even though it'd be a stretch to consider most of this country music, I will say it's more country than the last album Luke Bryan dropped, even though that's not really saying much.

So where to even start with this? Honestly, probably the best place is the one unequivocal positive: Brett Eldredge himself. If it wasn't for his immediately recognizable baritenor, this album would be a lot worse, because he has a lot of emotive presence and versatility behind the microphone, spanning sincerity, lightweight beach fodder, and some darker, more twisted moments. Like Kip Moore ahead of him, even if the subject matter is pretty inconsequential, Eldredge can do a fair bit to elevate it with his delivery.

But this is where the problems start in earnest, because unlike Kip Moore, nobody in the production booth had the slightest idea of how to produce for his vocals effectively, because the production and most of the instrumentation is a complete mess. Forget the fact that the majority of this album can't decide if they want to use drum machines or real drums which leads to a mishmash of styles that only works a third of the time, forget the electric guitar tones that often feel way too weedy and thin to support Eldredge's richer vocals, the vocal layering itself is often completely mishandled. And it starts from the very first song 'Fire' where the backing vocals feel oddly clipped on the chorus and just poorly mixed - and it doesn't end there. The sloppy mixing on 'Time Well Spent', the painfully thin backing vocals on 'If You Were My Girl' and 'Just A Taste', and then 'Shadow'... well, that song's a disaster from top-to-bottom, with the percussion too clean mixed too high, the guitars having not enough smoulder to match the pianos, and the lo-fi filter slathered all over Eldredge's voice to attempt to desperately add grit. It's an attempt at country rock that not only completely feels out of place on this album, but flatters nobody. The one place where the multi-tracking was even close to flattering was on 'Drunk On Your Love', and even that is pushing it. 

But unfortunately the problems run even deeper than that, mostly because for as 'slick' and 'cool' as this album is trying to present itself, Brett Eldredge isn't all that believable in that role. Thomas Rhett, maybe, as even though his guest verse on 'You Can't Stop Me' is completely empty, he at least fits better against this sound, but Eldredge shouting 'T.R!' is just embarrassing. That's not even saying the more synthetic sound is a complete deal-breaker - 'Lose My Mind''s off-kilter melodies with the acoustic groove, the spacier guitars and pianos and even hints of steel guitar in the background on the title track and 'Wanna Be That Song', the usage of accordion to fill out the background on 'Drunk On Your Love', the melancholic vibe of 'Lose It All', these are songs that can play to Eldredge's tones and have some good melodies of their own. But even then, the instrumental cohesion isn't really helped by the too-slick island-inspired elements on 'Time Well Spent' or 'Going Away For Awhile' that seem to be trying to recall Jake Owen's 'Beachin', but really don't have control of their atmosphere or texture to match it. But then again, texture might as well be a foreign word on this record: with the exception of some of the acoustic grooves, this record feels surprisingly sterile, with no real fire in the guitars and even less in the underweight drum machines.

So with all of that being said, what saves this record? Well, arguably the lyrics - they might not be excellent, but Eldredge remains a capable enough songwriter to not fall into the same nonsense that can ruin most bro-country records. For one, he often plays to his earnestness, which means songs like 'Wanna Be That Song' and 'If You Were My Girl' or 'Just A Taste' or 'Drunk On Your Love' are straightforwardly likeable enough to rise above boring mediocrity, and conceptual songs like the 'how to ruin your relationship' track 'Lose It All' show a lot of nuance on how carelessness can do far more damage than one might think. And as I've said before, I really like how well the careening momentum of 'Lose My Mind' played against lyrics that were just as unstable. And hell, I found a lot to like about the title track as well, a tribute to his home state that did seem to come from the heart, but also revealed a glaring issue with the majority of the writing: how 'general' it felt. This was a song that you could have used to capture details about that home state to paint a picture, and yet it feels maddeningly unspecific. And in most cases I'd understand, but this is the guy who wrote songs so vividly detailed like 'Raymond' that told greater stories, and he can do more than this.

And that, if anything, told me more about what this record is: a stab towards mainstream relevance that adopts a slicker sound and vibe to fit onto pop radio. The problem is that beyond his unique vocal tone and personality, the slick sounds are an ill fit for him and the writing that used to give Brett Eldredge more definition as a performer has ebbed away, and outside of 'Lose My Mind' and maybe the title track, I find this album hard to recommend to pop or country fans alike. For me, it's a strong 5/10 and really only recommended if you're a fan or you think this smoother sound somehow works. For me... well, the jury's still out on whether I like 'metropolitan' country, but I think the list of artists that it works for is a slim one, and as for Illinois tributes, I think I'll stick with Sufjan Stevens - and yet somehow that album feels more organic than this.

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