And from a different Joshua, a band without a song on the Catching Fire soundtrack…
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[6.00]
Joshua C.: How fitting is it that a band called the Civil Wars is torn apart by creative differences? It’s a good thing that they left us with this before going on hiatus though; it’s awesome. This song is “Barton Hallow” on steroids: where that starts with the two of them singing in unison, here Joy Williams sings the verses alone with occasional backing from John Paul White. (They did not want to be in the same studio together when recording, apparently.) This is Williams’s song, no question. Her voice, along with the production by Charlie Peacock, gives the song its urgency and emotion but prevents it from going overboard, as other musicians would let it. (Seriously: For every breakup song like this there’s a thousand Evanesci and Nickelbacks that SING EVERY SYLLABLE LIKE THEY’RE BEATING YOU OVER THE HEAD WITH A CONSTIPATED-SOUNDING BASEBALL BAT.) Even when all hell breaks loose in the climax, with the pounding “Kashmir”-esque drums and gritty guitars, the Civil Wars manage to keep things beautifully simple. It’s almost as if Ethan Johns and Rick Rubin joined forces. Really, it’s a shame that the rest of this album wasn’t as great as this opening song, because if it was we would certainly have a classic on our hands.
[9]
Brad Shoup: ‘Tis better to have lost than to’ve loved, say the Civils, and I can only take them at their word. It’s quite a setpiece, and it gets my pining for some CMA act to go full gothic country-metal. Obviously the drums must enter, and when they do, it’s just a bit of squinting away from a slack black metal kit. Though my kvlt dreams are lost, what didn’t get away was a mixture of “Wanted Dead or Alive”, “Oh Daddy,” and “The Thunder Rolls,” so really, I get her complaint.
[6]
Crystal Leww: This is melodrama that borders on the line of corniness, but I can appreciate the sentiment behind the phrase “I wish you were the one who got away.” Sometimes at the end of a toxic relationship that went on way too long with someone way too wrong, the trope seems more appealing than the reality. Joy Williams moderates her volume effectively; her voice cracks in all the right places here. It’s a shame that they’re no longer together, but I hope that Williams, who did seem to do press for the album, continues to make music.
[6]
Anthony Easton: I keep thinking that the histrionics (emphasis on history) of the Civil Wars are not earned, the drama is more Branson dinner theater than anything with gravitas, and its Hunger Games baggage doesn’t help this impression. They are more technically skilled than the Mumfords, which is something.
[6]
Alfred Soto: The Bon Jovi of mandolin jammin’ come alive with this slice of amplified quivering sensitivity. That fans could get better tunes and singing with character from your average country song depresses me a bit.
[4]
Mallory O’Donnell: The alternately spare and dense tickle and churn of the music is capably forceful. But if you’re going to employ a title this cliché, you need a twist far more clever than “I wish you were…”
[5]
Will Adams: A heaping portion of Sturm and Drang served to two people who don’t know what the hell to do with it.
[4]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Like Low with hooks, a gentle and sad mope that strains until it brings up the fire in its belly.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: Every generation gets an Alison Krauss. Sometimes they get one who sounds a little like Mary Margaret O’Hara.
[7]