Mark Lanegan- Field Songs

by Jen Grover


With an all-star cast of backing musicians, Mark Lanegan delivers his finest since Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, showing once again that he's not afraid to step sideways from the mainstream, or back in time, to draw on folk and blues traditions. From the slow waltz "Pill Hill Serenade" and the contemplative softness of "Kimiko's Dream House," penned with the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce, to the tortuous obsession of "Fix," Lanegan's voice ranges from tenderness to gritty power. Ben Shepherd's instrumental "Blues for D" conjures moonlight and solitude, the edge of dreaming, the flutter of moths. Metallic guitar shivers rise up behind cleanly produced vocals and acoustic guitars, like the noise inside a pained mind, setting a tone of lonely weariness, of circumstantial traps and regrettable choices. Spiritual references and poetic line breaks give layered meanings, and we always find a way to go on, down an endless street or on a departing train. These are songs by and for survivors, delivered with clarity and intimacy.


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