When Caitlin Rose released her “Dead Flowers” EP last year, she announced herself as a genuine country talent in the making. What is surprising is that that talent has flourished and matured enough within a year to create such a startlingly accomplished full debut as “Own Side Now”. “Dead Flowers” showed not just a lovely, mature country voice which drew comparisons to some of the old greats, but plenty of flashes of humour that marked out the singer’s exuberant and irreverent brand of youthful wisdom. On “Own Side Now” that lightheartedness has settled down into the kind of classic, poignant songwriting that would have mournful country heroines like Patsy Cline nodding approvingly.
The early part of the album eases the listener in with the gently picked melody of “Learnin’ to Ride” and the I-will-survive melancholy of “Own Side”, a gentle introduction to Rose’s exceptionally listenable voice, but with the mighty ballad “For the Rabbits” the album begins to grow into something altogether more timeless and profound. Across some soulful, tremulous guitar, the singer implores, “Fall back into my absent arms, fall back into routine disaster”. The verve of “Dead Flowers” returns with the storming up-tempo, hand-clapping, good time stomper, “Shanghai Cigarettes” before the brilliantly sashaying “New York City” swaggers its way onto the scene, all honky tonk piano and ragtime groove. Together with “For the Rabbits” it bears the rich imprint of a real songwriting talent in the making. Unusually, the second half of the album is arguably even stronger than the first, with the genuinely evocative “Things Change” extending the country ballad remit into something altogether more transcendent and touching and “Sinful Wishing Well” sounding like the work of someone twenty years older than the singer, such is the fragile pathos contained within.
While very much a country singer, there are still flavours of other genres here, from a sparkling cover of Stevie Nicks’ superb “That’s Alright” (from the largely forgotten ’80s Fleetwood Mac album “Mirage”) to songs reminiscent of the always underrated Linda Ronstadt, while the indie production makes sure that even the most country songs on show avoid the contemporary Nashville urge to over produce songs to within an inch of a saccharine-induced overdose. From dead flowers to a talent in early bloom, this album serves not just as a winner in its own right but as a statement of intent from a young singer with the world at her feet. But then we always knew she’d come up smelling of roses.
9/10
“Own Side Now” is out now.
