Album Review
Rykodisc
***1/2 (3.5 stars)
By Anthony Kuzminski
Buy the album here @ Amazon
Free MP3 song sample here
- Read about Will's first 2009 concert here.
- Don't know who Will Hoge is, then go here and read my article Will Hoge: The Redemption of Rock N' Roll
- 2007's Album of the Year 'Draw the Curtains' review here
- All Will Hoge posts can be read here.
Life can be a voyage of astonishment and infinite dreams. It can also be crammed with so many battles it deflates your soul leaving one to ask “where did it all go wrong?” People find themselves at dead ends not knowing where to turn. As they thumb through the pages of their past, the find demons that never relent. As the harsh realities of life set in, the questions increase and a loss of faith can lead to the worse kind of hurt; self-destruction. Nashville singer-songwriter Will Hoge’s fifth full length record The Wreckage finds broken souls questioning everything as the their walls close in on them. The eleven songs that encompass The Wreckage are drenched in melancholy. Hoge has never shied away from heartbreak and loss before, but this time around The Wreckage is infused with it. “This is the real world and things are just what they seem” Hoge croons on the album’s opening cut painting an all-too-real picture of strife that defies the romanticism of rock n’ roll with a mere twelve words. It doesn’t just wallop you in the gut, but continues to be agonizing as the ten battle worn hymns that follow permeate with lingering inquiries that do not have clear-cut answers. Hoge’s previous record, Draw the Curtains appeared to be a break-up record of sorts, but compared to The Wreckage it looks celebratory weighed against to the longing felt on The Wreckage. One gets the sense that Hoge has experienced something far more tormenting than physical pain and recuperation proving that physical lacerations can be healed, but the ones that disturb our psyche prove to be far more difficult to eradicate. The ache and threadbare emotions that gush out of these eleven songs remind us of one universal truth; love is a hard game to play.Burning out of the gates is the album’s opener, “Hard To Love”, setting the stage for heartache. Notice is served immediately that there are brewing emotions under the surface of clashing guitars and an ever reliable and muscular rhythm section that twists your inner emotions. Yet there are piano chords that feel as triumphant as Springsteen’s “Born To Run” and Bob Seger’s “Roll Me Away” but then one hears the lyric “it gets worse before it turns around” it wakes one up like a cold splash of water to the face, signaling this is just the beginning of a dark ride full of ecstasies and agonies. The bouncy “Long Gone” questions whether redemption is possible in a scorned soul. The blistering guitar solo stands side by side with beseeching lyrics (“Let go of the ghost”). The album’s title track is sparse with an acoustic guitar, piano and drums creating a despairing mood. The lyrics invade the listener amidst a perfect balance of reverb and an icy vocal that is as naked as they come. Despite knowing everything about a certain person is wrong for them, deep down they still hold the key to our heart and because of that, we’ll forever be a prisoner to them. “Favorite Waste of Time” has acrimonious lyrics delivered with a biting candor (“So you got the best of me, I'll just take what's left and leave this place”). On “What Could I Do” Hoge barely raises his voice that is still stunned by betrayal in a situation where no one wins. “Just Like Me” is scathing while Hoge’s band compliments the lyrics with submerged tension in an arrangement that is fueled by acrimony and infused with buoyancy. Long time drummer Sigurdur Birkis gives his best performance on record to date providing a solid resolve for Hoge and the other musicians to build on. Despite using much of the same personnel as Draw the Curtains the album’s production is more reigned in. Producers Ken Coomer and Charlie Brocco this time around let the languished vocals take center stage while the music is performed with refinement and restraint. As the overwrought lyrics drip off Hoge’s tongue, they seep into your psyche.
The duet of “Goodnight/Goodbye” finds two people at the end of a day who knows their relationship is hopeless, but neither dare say a word. The duet with Ashley Monroe features a tranquil performance amidst some brush beating drums that is downright eerie. We’ve all been in these relationships and know harsh realities are too scary to confront and as a result, we fall into a pattern where lingering questions disappear amidst the morning light where it’s too bright for us to confront our demons. “Where Do We Go From Down” confesses previous sins and asks arduous questions that there may not be tangible answers to. (“And I know that in time you will leave me but your memory won't”). The organ illuminates the heart piercing lyric adding to the overall melancholy of the song. “Too Late Too Soon” features a vocal performance that may among Hoge’s best. His pleading sincerity evokes pure soul, especially on the stirring conclusion where the word “please” is repeated and uttered with emotive force before Hoge repeats the chorus with a whisper ending the album and leaving one to ruminate in the wreckage of torn emotions. As we wallow in our own pain and misery, we continually reminisce on the romantic interludes and to a time where the world seemed perfect, which makes the aftermath that much more cruel.
“Even If It Breaks Your Heart” and “Highway Wings” are the album’s two buoyant and redemptive tales which provide the album a much needed lift amidst all of the turbulence. “Even If it Breaks Your Heart” features an earnest and enlivening vocal where you can hear Hoge’s rigorous conviction to his art. This is his “Darkness on the Edge of Town”, an ode to the sheer power that music can instill in someone. The chorus of “Keep on dreaming even if it breaks your heart” is repeated over and over again pulling the listener in closer to hear the mysteries of life. Beneath every struggle in life are two paths; surrender and defiance. Does one keep on with their dream, or do they fold their cards and get out? The scoring in Hoge’s delivery speaks volumes. Instead of throttling his vocal cords in an over-the-top manner, he subtlety delivers the chorus with a strapping tone that is unrelenting. “Highway Wings” is magnanimous full of bristling inspiration as the band lets loose revving for the finish line. Despite being stung by broken dreams and promises, there is always the possibility of emancipation (“Hold on baby I’ll be there in a sweet little while”). The characters within Hoge’s songs are constantly in search of a life not racked by emotional woes. Every Will Hoge record takes the listener through jarring roads, deceitful lies, cruel truths and ultimately beautifying redemption, The Wreckage merely puts these brutal truths up front and center for one to contemplate. Make no mistake, most of the songs on The Wreckage harbor bleak topics, but this honesty allows the listener to live in spirit of these songs evoking daunting and undeniable questions to the forefront. The ghosts of our past are never far behind and ultimately, it’s up to us whether we write a new chapter or allow ourselves to wallow in yesterday’s miseries instead of tomorrow’s triumphs. Will Hoge’s The Wreckage may be the year’s most authentic rock n’ roll album; it is a forthright, sweeping and transfixing record that will haunt, console and rescue your soul even at your darkest hour.Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
