Arts & Entertainment
Books
Comics
Health & Body
Media
Mothers Who Think
News
People
Politics2000
Technology
- Free Software Project
Travel & Food

Columnists

 

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Search Salon

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon Arts & Entertainment

Music
The politics of plagiarism
Why Beck, Stereolab, Tortoise, the High Llamas and Sean Lennon are all fascinated by Tom Zé.
By Jeff Stark
[05/26/99]

Music
The finest children's album ever made
Of three new Carole King reissues, it's "Really Rosie" -- a "Tapestry" for the under-10 set -- that stands out.
By Douglas Wolk
[05/25/99]

Music Review
Sharps & flats
Jazz pianist Monty Alexander's gutsy vision stirs up Bob Marley's greatest hits.
By Philip Booth
[05/25/99]

Home Video
City of angles
Art Carney and Lily Tomlin sleuth among the low-lifes in a scuffed-up L.A. noir.
By Charles Taylor
[05/24/99]

Music Review
Sharps & flats
Homespun avant-gardist Bill Frisell explores the unfolding saga of the American West.
By Seth Mnookin
[05/24/99]

Complete archives for Arts & Entertainment

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Sharps & flats
Singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith whispers sweetly.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By John Milward

May 26, 1999 | Ron Sexsmith is a Canadian singer-songwriter celebrated for his winsome melodies, melancholy lyrics and a vulnerable vocal vibrato that recalls the royally depressed (and terribly gifted) 1960s songwriter Tim Hardin. It's a noisy world in which to be a sensitive guy, which is why it was a good idea for Sexsmith and producers Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake (Suzanne Vega, Los Lobos) to beef up the production of the singer's third album, "Whereabouts." Where the intimate arrangements on its predecessor, "Other Songs" (1997), fairly clung to the contours of Sexsmith's acoustic guitar, instruments of a wider palette fill the more ambitious charts of "Whereabouts."

"Riverbed" would have drowned in lyrical clichés without such elaboration. But just as patience begins to wear thin at the second verse, a clarinet offers a flavorful accompaniment, followed at the chorus by the addition of strings and a sweetly plunking banjo. In this gently unfolding manner, a simple folk tune becomes a memorable pop song. Sexsmith also has a gift for melodic phrasing. On "Beautiful View," the ear candy isn't the layers of strings, but the way his rhythmic enunciation breathes life into an otherwise pedestrian pledge: "There's nothing I would rather do than sit and talk with you."

Sexsmith and fellow cult hero Elliott Smith share an affection for the mid-tempo pop style of the Beatles (Sexsmith can also recall Ray Davies of the Kinks). But where Smith limits himself by recording most of his basic tracks as a one-man-band, Sexsmith plays guitar in a terrific quartet that includes Froom on keyboards and Pete Thomas (of Elvis Costello's Attractions) on the drums. If only these crackerjack players had inspired Sexsmith to pump up the record: As is, it suffers from too many mid-tempo grooves. Still, from the light Memphis soul of "Right About Now" to the oddly whimsical "Idiot Boy," Sexsmith's "Whereabouts" shows compelling musical growth from a songwriter who has already established himself as a master of the game.
salon.com | May 26, 1999

 

- - - - - - - - - - - -

About the writer John Milward is a New York freelance writer. Sound off Send us a Letter to the Editor

- - - - - - - - - - - -

  Get a printer-friendly version

  E-mail a friend about this article

  Backflip this article to find it again

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Search Salon

  
Advanced Search  |  Help