Patti Scialfa - Play it as it Lays (Album)
There are times on Patti Scialfa’s new album Play it as it Lays when her voice screeches like tyres braking on gravel and others when it is a silky skein of cigarette smoke gliding through sunshine. It is a voice that divides audiences but for me this is a strength on an album that set my mind to conjuring images of a journey, cheap hotels and cruel heartbreak. I imagined a strong but rootless musician, her only constant companions, a guitar and the road. So I was surprised to discover that this rusty voiced singer has three kids and is happily married to Bruce Springsteen – who plays of all things on it, organ.
The album dips in and out of pop, blues, rock and, there is no getting away from an overall feel of country. It rings with the strains of harmonica, violin, slide guitar and a philosophical attitude to the perils of life and love. Not being a fan of country music or anything but the sparest of blues I am not sure I am the most qualified person to review Play it as it lays. But the more times I listened to it the more I liked it, despite myself with my country music prejudices.
It is however music of an American rock dreaming and although in the global American world we live in that is a familiar place, I couldn’t help feeling that travelling from the American South accross the Pacific, it just didn’t make it all the way. I think that music needs to make us feel like we could be living in the songs and although lines like “warm black asphalt, south of nowhere, I’m going there under dirty cotton skies” really effectively create a sense of place, for me that place was far away and kind of irrelevant.
It indulges in lots of rock and country cliches, which occassionally grate. Though as I continued to listen I began to feel that Scialfa uses all these familiar ingredients because she can, mixing them in, just for fun. She has excellent company along for such a ride. The songs are masterfully executed with the kind of talent and experience that make it an advantage to be married to a music legend. Songs like the Word, play around and town called heartbreak showcase that talent upon a foundation of Scialfa’s strong song writing. But with that and her razor like voice the album really does belong to Scialfa herself. She may not be on her own on some lonely highway, but she deserves consideration as though she were.
