Mel Parsons - Red Grey Blue
Red Grey Blue from Mel Parsons is a big step up in writing, delivery and production. It bounces from deftly augmented, optimistic pop (I Won't Let You Down, the refrain of "you gotta hold on" in Things Will Get Good) to self-doubt ("I'm supposed to stand here and make out like I'm strong, what if I'm wrong" on the brooding, new country-flavoured Bones, and the multiple interpretations possible in the foreboding sound of Damage).
Mel Parsons also captures lifestyles in searing snapshots: "We play pool and we muck around, bad karaoke is the only sound" and "jaggy hems and highlights, sterling silver teeth, she's lovely on the outside just not much underneath" grabs images from those pointlessly repeating evenings of cigarettes and booze in the melancholy reflections of Saturday Night.
And she does it again on the banjo and fiddle coloured True Story which opens, "I went off to Calgary hoping to make it big, got a two-bit job in a motorcycle store ... you turned up to take me home, I said I surrender I will come with you ... I'm so sorry to your family, I'm so sorry to your kids, but it is what it is ..."
Problematic love turns up again in We Will Find Love Again, addressed to a third party when a relationship gets complicated.
Mel Parsons has delivered an album with musical texture and colour (among the discreet supporting cast are co-producer Jeremy Toy, Andre Upston, fiddle player Nik Bown, pedal steel player John Egenes, Don McGlashan, Greg Johnson, Anika Moa and many others) but also well-crafted songs which cover a range of real human emotions such as reflection, loss, bad love, happiness and the comfort of companionship.
The lightness of touch, handclaps, soft drumming and catchy chorus in Springtime Sun sound tailor-made for summertime radio, but Mel Parsons can also take you to deeper places.
And right at the end on the gentle ballad End Of The Day she looks to that emotional glue which holds love together despite the troubles of life: "When we're feeling helpless, when we're feeling small, we can get together and laugh about it all ... at the end of the day I'm still gonna love you, I'm right here beside you through whatever goes down, at the end of the day".
Few albums end on such a pitch-perfect emotional and reassuring note. Quite something.
Review courtesy of Graham Reid from Elsewhere.co.nz
