The Aurora Review |
Fall 2004 |
  Tift Merritt Tambourine
Lost
Highway Records Tift Merritt’s 2002
debut, Bramble Rose, drifted to the ears of alt-country admirers like
a warm summer breeze. Driven by Merritt’s heavy acoustic guitar riffs and
brimming with introspective country ballads, the twanging pedal steel and
country-rock tinged tracks sent critics into a veritable tizzy of
salivating adoration. But, like most visionary artists, Merritt was unwilling
to simply make Bramble Rose II. Her follow-up record, Tambourine, bears
more of a resemblance to a hurricane than a summer breeze -- filled with
sonically deft rockers and blue-eyed soul, with electric guitars and organ
swells. From the opening chords of “Stray Paper” it is evident that
Merritt has not lost any of her songwriting prowess, but has redirected it
with the help of producer George Drakoulis into a sound more reminiscent of
Tom Petty than Patsy Cline. Yet, as with Bramble Rose, Merritt’s work
refuses to be so easily defined. Tambourine features all-out rockers
(the angst-ridden “Wait it Out”), roots-rock (the Jayhawks-esque “Ain’t
Looking Closely”), Memphis soul (the Dusty Springfield-inspired “Good Hearted
Man”), and Americana (the sublime, Springsteen-esque “Laid a Highway”) -- all
of which meld into a riveting eclectic mix made whole by Merritt’s brassy
soprano which can leap from a whisper to a roar in a heartbeat. Tift Merritt continues to expand the scope of her stylistic influences as she moves down the path she started on with Bramble Rose. Tambourine is
a superb Americana album with a unique aesthetic that defies
categorization, yet another musical masterpiece from one of alt-country’s rising stars. |
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