I always feel like I'm sleeping on the charms of Cass McCombs. And I probably have been, but that's not going to happen again. Heartmind, the musician's new record which came out yesterday on ANTI-, is so good that I've been converted. A re-imagining of what roots rock is, the album is superbly realized, and the sort of thing to win more new fans just like me.
"Music is Blue" has a swagger about it that helps things kick off in the right vibe, even as the lighter "Karaoke" rides an easy-to-love hook into a listener's affections. "Unproud Warrior" rattles forward like some solo Robbie Robertson stuff, even as the jazzy rhythmic underpinnings place this in a class of its own, while "Belong to Heaven" finds new life in Americana. Cass McCombs here sounds like a slightly more optimistic version of Bruce Springsteen circa Tunnel of Love. There's a resolute and subtle upbeat vibe to McCombs' delivery, and his performance here, as on many of the cuts on Heartmind, seems worthy of a great deal of attention.
Heartmind works best on its own modest terms. There are portions that might appeal directly to fans of The War on Drugs, for example, but this music elegantly stretches and expands in ways that are not as direct. There's nuance here, and moods aplenty, especially on the longer cuts, but McCombs wisely keeps things intimate and fairly modest in scope. It's the rarest of personal records that sounds expansive and spacious.
Heartmind by Cass McCombs is out now via ANTI-.
[Photo: Ebru Yildiz]