Lynn Miles
Fall For Beauty
(True North)
Lynn Miles’ eighth album is clearly the product of experience. With a musical career spanning 15 years and various Canadian Folk Music Awards under her belt, Miles Fall For Beauty sounds like it must have been a walk in the park to create; the CD has a humble ease, and Miles sings about new topics with highly developed craft. Her voice is soft and sweet, calling upon the folk inspiration of James Taylor and ’90s Lilith Fair top billings. Her songs evoke feelings of introspection, love, loss, and the arrival of sunny days. Track 10, “Time Left to the Sun,” ends the album on an orchestral, fairytale-esque note, acting as the cherry on top of an imaginative and lighthearted compilation of good-humored songs. —Magdalene Nutter
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Jim Armenti
The Herd
(deVague)
Jim Armenti’s The Herd is chock full of country-rock tunes that showcase Armenti’s prodigious guitar skills. The album brings to mind summer days with the windows of the pickup rolled down. Filled with sparkling guitar solos and a nice mix of humor and heartbreak, the album consists entirely of Armenti’s playing and singing. Here and there are a couple of rollicking foot-stompers, but much of the album is mid-tempo tracks telling tales of home and self reflection, which best showcase Armenti’s vocals and playing. The guitar tracks stand out in the album, with an electric lead playing mesmerizing solos over steady acoustic rhythm. Armenti’s varying musical talents are showcased on violin, mandolin, harmonica, and the occasional horn as well. —Josh Ernst
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Meat Puppets
Lollipop
(Megaforce)
Often, fans clamor for a band to return to its past, while critics knock the same band for not breaking new ground. Regardless of either direction, the good news with the Meat Puppets is simply that they are still around and making music. Bassist Cris Kirkwood ended up in prison in 2004, and had struggled with drug addiction for years. It’s safe to say now that the band is back in business. Guitarist Curt Kirkwood can be startlingly good at his instrument, but Lollipop isn’t a showcase for virtuosity. The Kirkwood brothers and drummer Shandon Sahm offer a set of laid-back, pleasantly hazy tunes in a sort of Arizona country-tinged jam mold, augmented by a few rockers in which Curt Kirkwood breaks out massive slabs of noisy guitar. It’s the same formula that made them so influential two decades ago, and it’s a pleasure to hear them making good music that sounds like the Meat Puppets, just older and more sophisticated. —James Heflin
