Nickel Creek: Irritating Bluegrass Fans Nationwide, One Purist at a Time
Written: Aug 30 '05
Product Rating:
Pros: The band branches out into darker and more unexpected territory.
Cons: A bit "all over the place"; not enough leads from Sara and Sean.
The Bottom Line: I'd still say This Side is their strongest album. But WSTFD is an intriguing work in its own right, with excellent musicianship and a loose story weaving it all together.
divad23's Full Review: Why Should the Fire Die? [Digipak] by Nickel Creek
I don't know about you, but driving around a small, tropical island really gets me into the mood for some good country music.
Whoops, I meant bluegrass.
Wait, scratch that. I meant folk. I think.
OK, so I don't know exactly how to label Nickel Creek. And admittedly, a style of music derived from more eastern and mountainous locales seems like an odd fit for a remote isle such as Kauai. But that's where I was, enjoying a blissful honeymoon, when the upstart "newgrass" trio released their latest album, Why Should the Fire Die? I honestly had no expectation that I'd be able to find it, or much of anything like it, in any of the music stores out there, but lo and behold, the island is civilized enough to have Borders Books & Music. And it was there that I found my copy of Fire - not by digging through several genre-specific areas wedged in between the bigger sections for Hawaiian music and the like (though I did try that), but by checking the new release/bestseller rack (duh). Nickel Creek is big enough to be a featured artist nationwide, and while the style might be an odd fit for the locale, you wouldn't exactly expect such a band to have originated in San Diego, California, either.
You know what else Nickel Creek's music was an odd fit for? A honeymoon, that's what. Regardless of the location, that still would have been true. I've been a fan of the group for years, and my new wife had come to appreciate them a lot more after a landmark concert back in 2003. They've generally had a bright acoustic sound that shows of their adeptness at their respective instruments (guitar, violin, and mandolin). They've explored irony and dark themes here and there, most notably on their baffling sophomore release This Side, but I'll admit that I didn't expect them to take as much of cynical turn as they did on the new album. Where previous albums had no real theme other than to showcase the trio's instrumental and songwriting talents, Fire seems to be built around the dissolution of one or more marriages. This theme allows them to write some heartwrenching songs (or give a home to songs that have been hanging around for a while, in the case of concert highlight "Can't Complain"), but it also means that the musical approach is less geared toward showing off (comparative to their other albums, at least) and more geared toward evoking a mood. It's hard to have an album with so much violin and mandolin and not have a lot of bright musical colors present, but the hues are more subdued, if this makes sense at all. This being their first major release without Allison Krauss at the production helm may have had something to do with that. And that's perfectly OK - a band's gotta stretch their wings, and given their experimental arc on several of the new songs I heard them preview at that wonderful concert they put on, I halfway expected to barely recognize the band. So, in my view, the shift in their approach is noteworthy, but not drastic.
Fans of the previous albums are probably going to see this differently, though - especially the traditional bluegrass enthusiasts. That's the demographic that Nickel Creek had hooked at the beginning, and then proceeded to frustrate with This Side. That record had a lot of ballads and a few odd pieces that found them channeling other genres with bluegrass instrumentation. Fire, in particular, is an album that has the force of angst modern rock on a few tracks without the instrumentation. The songwriting, most of which comes from the group's biggest breakout star Chris Thile, also lines up with this angst 20-something mentality on several occasions, and some of the chord progressions and muted moods in several places are in line with this as well. Not a bad thing, but it's definitely more of a singer/songwriter focus than the hardcore aficionados of any instrument were hoping for.
OK, so what about the rest of us who enjoyed Nickel Creek for the genre chameleons that they were becoming? The news is generally good. We get more of Sara Watkins' violin this time around - it was largely a background instrument on This Side, though that is a tradeoff because she gets to lead on fewer songs. Her brother Sean Watkins, who defines the rhythm and basic chord structure of several of the songs with his acoustic guitar, is probably the more sensible anchor who gets to do the least flashy stuff. His contribution is important, but since he only sings lead on one song, it's kind of easy to forget that he's a major player here. All three members have contributed to the songwriting process this time around (Sara gets her first writing credits on a few songs), but for the most part, Nickel Creek is beginning to feel like the Chris Thile show. It's a slight danger for the group (Chris is quite a talent, but not the group's only big talent), but they still got a very good album out of it.
Ultimately, Fire has a little something for every Nickel Creek fan. Did you miss the instrumentals from the self-titled album? We have more than one of those this time around. Were you hoping for another song with religious overtones? A quite stunning one pops out late in the album. Do you want more quirky, experimental stuff like they were starting to get into on This Side? A few tracks will definitely show you how they've progressed in this area. Want a left-field cover? OK, so it's hard to be more left-field than Pavement, but I wasn't expecting a Bob Dylan reinterpretation, either. Do you have a hard time listening to music without percussion? They threw a little bit of that in here and there. Want to feel happy and in love? OK... might not be able to help you there. But the sad story ends on what I think is a positive note. Hardship and conflict are common ingredients in some of the best traditional genres that have come out of American music, including folk and country, so in a sense, it makes sense for the band's wide-eyed youthfulness to start giving way to jaded weariness. I think they've approached that phase of personal growth without slipping off the deep end, so let's give the band a chance and see what happens when we move in closer to touch the fire.
When in Rome Where can a teacher go?
Wherever she thinks people need the things she knows
Hey, those books you gave us look good on the shelves at home
And they'll burn warm in the fireplace, Teacher, when in Rome...
Nickel Creek goes for a bit of a Wilco-esque opening here, with some muted electronic whirring and a faint mandolin solo from Chris Thile getting things going. You'll be tempted to adjust the sound on your CD player, but wait just a sec - the band will jump in at full volume momentarily. There's a sinister, outlaw-like feel to this song, largely due to Sara Watkins' fiddling, the rather aggressive guitar and mandolin strumming, and the stomps from everyone in the band to keep the beat. You'll be tricked into thinking they used actual percussion instruments to get a light rhythm, but no, it's just Mark Schatz's bass and the stomping. Chris Thile has offered us as enigmatic a song as ever here, describing alienated characters like a sick man, a teacher, and a dead man, all of whom feel marginalized or helpless in a foreign place. The song's bridge, which urges, "Grab a blanket, brother, so we don't get cold from one another", gives us a clue early on that something is amiss between two people who once loved each other. If I had to guess at the meaning of this oddly addictive song, I'd say that it's about people who grow indifferent to one another, and how popular culture around us tells us that's OK and perfectly normal, as if we shouldn't expect romance to really last.
Somebody More Like You I hope you finally find someone
Someone that you trust, and give him everything
I hope you meet someone your height
So you can see eye to eye with someone as small as you...
My wife's first reaction to this Sean Watkins-penned song (it's the only one he gets to sing lead on during this album, which is too bad) was that it was "cute". It definitely has a shot of cleverness to it, and the melody is a bit brighter than "When in Rome" - the driving acoustic guitar seems to be an acoustic interpretation of a pop/rock style of playing, since it's more rhythmic than melodic. Sara fills in with some pretty violin parts, too, but don't be fooled by Sean's apparent well-wishing toward the girl he addresses in this song, because there's actually a bit of bitterness here. He's basically saying that she's not a very nice person after all, and he's frustrated with trying to be what she wants, so he hopes she finds someone exactly like her so that she can avoid ever having to grow up.
Jealous of the Moon Why don't you call me, I could save you
Together we'll find a god we can pray to
That will take you by the hand...
The record's first ballad is a sort of molding of the sparseness of a melodramatic tune like "Hanging by a Thread", and the gentle, flowing rhythm of a "Sweet Afton". As the mandolin gently trickles around the 3/4 rhythm, the band paints a mental image of a starry night spent wandering through an open field. Despite the lovely musical atmosphere, Chris is still a bit jaded here, commenting on how a girl won't let herself get past her own insecurities. She's afraid to do anything because she knows she won't be perfect at it. I like the language of "Staring down the stars, jealous of the moon" - these astronomical standards that the girl compares herself to are what hold her back from truly experiencing any growth.
Scotch & Chocolate
Chris and Sara paired up to compose this cute little instrumental (yes, this time it really is cute) which starts off innocently and lazily, with the mandolin and fiddle doing a coy little dance around each other. Suddenly, as if they were a dog and a cat who realized they were meant to be mortal enemies, the careful dance turns into an all-out high-speed chase, with the melody line smartly shifting into a much faster rhythm and the two guys strumming for their lives as Sara buzzes around them like a flustered bumblebee. I guess the mellow part was the "Scotch" and the hyperactive part is the "Chocolate" - in any event, it's a sheer joy to hear the more beautiful portions of it, which are akin to some of the faster instrumentals on the self-titled, meet the more dissonant and wacky sections where the band seems to be tumbling through a bunch of random chords just to get back to where they began. This one's gonna kick butt in concert, I can just tell.
Can't Complain She moved here and bought the first house she could find
I moved in and we locked ourselves inside
I guess we just kidnapped each other's minds...
Speaking of kicking butt in concert... I was quite enthralled with this sour little dirge when the band pulled it out for us two years ago. The slow, somber brushing of bows along Sara's violin and Mark's bass aren't as dominant in the album version, heard mostly at the beginning and end while Sean provides a light acoustic rhythm for Chris to mourn over. This is the point where you really have to remind yourself that a lot of Nickel Creek's lyrics are either totally fictional, or at least third-person pretending to be first-person. Like some of the best storytellers, they like to role-play, and Chris does a fine job here, playing the part of an insensitive guy who hooks up with a girl only to rather carelessly break her heart. The kicker? He thinks he had every right to do so because he warned her right at the beginning that "I'm a guy" and guys do this sort of thing. The fiddle and bass get a little more disgruntled when the band unexpectedly shifts keys into a verse describing the couple moving in together and basically consuming each other's lives. It doesn't last long, as the song culminates in the guy cheating on the girl and walking away thinking he's totally blameless. Just as the song is fading out on that some somber dirge comes its best moment, when Chris suddenly takes a turn from sad to manic, screaming out, "No, she can't complain!" again and again as the song gets busier and busier. He sounds like hell, quite honestly, but then, he's meant to. It'll probably startle you at first, but trust me, this one's a definite highlight.
Tomorrow Is a Long Time There is beauty in the silver singin' river
There is beauty in the sunrise in the sky
But none of these and nothing else can touch
The beauty that i remember in my true love's eyes...
At long last, we get to hear Sara's sweet voice for an entire song (she's faithfully backed up the guys up to this point, which has sometimes been humorous, given some of the lyrics that involve guys being jerks to girls), and ironically, she's covering a song written by a man. Bob Dylan, to be specific. It sounds like a song that she was born to sing, though - unlike "Sabra Girl", she changes the pronouns from "she" to "he" as she wistfully pines away over a true love she has yet to meet. The acoustic guitar and mandolin are lightly sprinkled through the song like spring rain, and of course Sara throws in another lovely violin interlude - it's definitely more of a low-key song, but it's also a nice relief from the darker mood of the
surrounding tracks.
Eveline Being just a step away from
Happiness and sanity blurs
And drives her crazier...
The band takes odd, obscure, and angular to a bit of an extreme with this one. It's one of the darkest and most muted-sounding tracks on the album, with Chris's mumbled lyrics being a bit difficult to make out, and being rather minimal at that. They seem to deal with a girl (named Eveline, of course) who wants to commit to a relationship, but can't because she has too many other responsibilities weighing her down, such as caring for her aging father. It's a song that hints at a lot more than it explains, and while I like the rich tone of the acoustic guitar and the slightly-off rhythm of the louder instrumental section in the middle, it really feels like it should be just the beginning of a longer and more complex song. At best, it's an enigmatic snippet, and at worst, it's a failed experiment.
Stumptown
Speaking of snippets, one wonders how this second instrumental made the album. It's pleasant and pastoral enough, doing the more traditional thing as Chris and Sara take turns playing over a comfortable acoustic rhythm, rolling through an out-of-the-way town on a lazy Sunday afternoon. But it's not even two minutes long, and its tone is so noticeably pedestrian compared to the rest of the album. Sorry, but Nickel Creek can do stuff like this in their sleep, and this track kind of distracts from the overall tone of the album.
Anthony And he's not looking back, he's not looking back
'Cause he doesn't want anything I have
Or anything I am...
And yet another snippet. Weird that the band decided to jam three in a row into the center of an otherwise strong album. Actually, this one has kind of grown on me, despite my frustration with how incomplete it sounds. It's the first song that Sara has composed for the band entirely on her own (come on girl, when are you gonna do a solo record?), and she chooses the whimsical approach, allowing Chris to fool around with a ukulele and allowing the producer to channel her off entirely to one speaker while the guys hum and whistle and otherwise echo in the other speaker. The result is an intentionally-dated sound that makes me picture the band running around very quickly on grainy film with captions in fancy fonts telling us what's happening. What few lyrics there are describe a guy whom Sara thinks can love her, but he's reluctant to do so and he basically snubs her, and that's pretty much the whole song.
Best of Luck We didn't want our love to end in high school
At college, I called everyday until the day I met you
A year ago he got in touch, I asked him to forgive me
It should've ended there, but I forgot I wasn't eighteen...
Another amusing reaction from my wife to this one: "Sounds like a pop song". Well, it's certainly got one hell of a driving beat (largely due to the acoustic guitar and Chris's tried-and-true muted mandolin strumming, as well as more stomping, and the melody is insanely catchy. The vocal trade-off between the guys on the creepy chorus ("Don't touch... don't look... don't think... best of luck!") and Sara's quirky melody and quick lyrics in the verses is totally priceless. So if your idea of pop sounds like the more quirky, alternative variety that crested in the 90's, then yeah, this is a total pop song. Whatever the case, it's one of Nickel Creek's most addictive and befuddling songs, describing several desperate couples trying to reconnect with each other after periods of conflict or silence, and perhaps even trying to resist the urge to have affairs. The urgency in the group's vocal harmonies hints that there's a real danger lurking behind it all. It's one of those songs that really keeps you guessing and gives you the urge to hit rewind so that you can attempt to take it all in again.
Doubting Thomas Sometimes I pray for a slap in the face
Then I beg to be spared, 'cause I'm a coward
If there's a master of death, I'll bet he's holding his breath
As I show the blind and tell the deaf about his power...
After being blindsided by "Best of Luck", I didn't expect the more traditional folk ballad that followed to knock my socks off as well. A pair of acoustic guitars paints a lovely, if somewhat sad picture, and Chris gives us one of his most soul-searching lyrics, about what it's like to be a religious person struggling to keep the faith after years of hiding behind the need for scientific proof and a general fear of commitment. He sounds so earnest and vulnerable when he sings of the desire to be used in powerful ways and speak truth to others, and yet he realizes how fragile he is and how he barely believes for himself what he longs to share with others. This song is so "me" at the moment that it's not even funny. I knew that Nickel Creek had some strong religious influence, due to songs like "The Hand Song" or their concert rendition of "Be Thou My Vision", but to hear a song about religious faith this dead-on and haunting is something I'd expect from Jars of Clay or Rich Mullins, so kudos to Nickel Creek for approaching the subject without being cliche.
First and Last Waltz
A hazy, dreamlike state overwhelms this final, short instrumental, as if hearkening back to a buried memory from years past. The mandolin and violin perform a beautiful dance together that seems to keep slipping off of its flowing 3/4 rhythm, eventually fading into a bit of reverb that sputters and dies out. Let's just say that this one contrasted interestingly with the last gasp of a gorgeous Kauai sunset the first time that my wife and I listened to it.
Helena You looked so sweet, I should have seen
While I was playing for fun, you were playing for keeps...
As soon as the previous track cuts out, Chris's breathy voice breaks in immediately, bringing the album to a bit of an uneasy climax as he pleads for the girl he's hurt to give him his heart back. He vacillates between groveling and not giving a damn quite effectively, and as the mandolin strumming gets more and more insistent, we realize that there's another girl in the picture, and he doesn't even bother apologizing for it. "Guys like me never sleep alone", he bitterly informs her, and he asserts that he'll be "just fine" and he'll forget about both her and his mistress. Ouch. The song culminates in a surprisingly rock-oriented moment where drums - for the love of God, actual drums - come crashing in, pounding in time with the band's frantic plucking and strumming, and bringing the song to a chilling close with gentle voices singing "la, la la" in the background. There's a definite sense of lost innocence here, and unlike most songs on the subject, the protagonist seems to far gone to care. This one'll really drive the purists crazy, but shoot, I thought that was kind of fun.
Why Should the Fire Die? I'm not scared of being alone
I'm just happier being confused
Beside the fire, as long as it's with you...
The album's title track, while brief, is a sweet little ode to marital fidelity, stressing the need to tend the home fires, and expressing that it has to be possible to do this because "My mom and dad kept theirs alive". The sleepy rhythm is a lot like that of "Jealous of the Moon", but the tone is a little more relaxed here, offering some solace to the album's final whimpers. Sean and Sara meekly harmonize with Chris here, and the song keeps pausing as if to contemplate the promises that this aging couple once made to each other. It's as if these people are realizing, after all of the crap they've done to each other, that they'd rather tough it out and try to reconcile than go on alone. It's a sweet, if unresolved, note on which to end.
I like that Nickel Creek has used this album as a way of exploring texture, even if it means the music is occasionally less flashy than we'd expect. There's probably more meat to chew on here in terms of the subject matter than there has been on previous Creek albums, and if they continue experimenting until they find that perfect blend of musical virtuosity and soul-searching lyricism, I'll be quite happy for them. For now, while Fire isn't as strong as This Side due to its iffy midsection, I think it's a bold move for the band with a potential to draw in new fans from unexpected places. Just give it some time - it's a slow-burner.
ALBUM WORTH:
When in Rome $1.50
Somebody More Like You $1.50
Jealous of the Moon $1.50
Scotch & Chocolate $2
Can't Complain $1.50
Tomorrow Is a Long Time $1
Eveline $.50
Stumptown $.50
Anthony $1
Best of Luck $2
Doubting Thomas $2
First and Last Waltz $1
Helena $1.50
Why Should the Fire Die? $1 TOTAL: $18.50
Band Members:
Chris Thile: Vocals, mandolin, mandola, ukulele, guitars
Sara Watkins: Vocals, violin
Sean Watkins: Vocals, guitars
Mark Schatz: Bass (honorary member)
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