REVIEW: Joe Henry, Fuse (Mammoth)
- Chris Hill
When an album pulls its title from one of its tracks, that song merits extra scrutiny. Why was it singled out? What makes that one more special than any of the others? Is it truly worthy of a titular honor? It's a glimpse into the taste of the artist (or the record company) and another info tidbit for the scrap-hungry fan. The title song of Fuse is brilliant - a one-song showcase for everything the Joe Henry fan would expect: simple, evocative lyrics with warm musical swaddling. Three weeks of listening, and it's still undergoing multiple repeats before the cd is allowed to segue to the next song. "Here comes the night/ there go your knees/ reaching for the floor/ You say, 'I'll stand guard down here'/ she stands in the door..." The evoked image is three-dimensional, with small guitar riffs and a sultry-sweet piano, cushioned by gentle drums. The cherry on top of the sundae: the lyric, "But her fingers on your lips/ are like a penny for a fuse," which simply stunned me into slack-jawed appreciation as the song wanders to fade.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
The other ten songs? Not surprisingly, also splendid. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Chris Whitley, Jakob Dylan, Carla Azar, Anthony Wilson, Randy Jacobs -- old friends and new -- lend Henry assistance. The Brass Band contributes greatly to Fuse, as the jazz/hip-hop flavor of this release shows Henry once again morphing his musical contours.
It's a far cry from 1992's Short Man's Room and 1993's Kindness of the World, the discs Henry recorded using the Jayhawks as his backing band. Fuse *is* a kissing musical cousin to his last, Trampoline, though_Fuse possesses a singular production presence compared to Trampoline and its individual splendors ("Flower Girl," "Trampoline," "Ohio Air Show Plane Crash"). A glue on the unified ambience -- throughout Fuse are sprinkled excerpts of a two decades-old reading by poet George Seedorff, serving as a carnival barker with ironic clues and commentary to the show behind the curtain.
Not to say Fuse lacks an array of songs vying for individual attention. The flat-out charming first verse of "Great Lake" makes for a strong contender. Also stepping to the forefront are the relentlessly cheerful "Skin and Teeth," and "Like She Was a Hammer," with Henry clearly savoring every syllable sung. Also calling attention to themselves are the ambling, leisurely "Angels," which speaks of scruffy guardians more likely to distract than to guide, and the crooning "Want Too Much," with its slow burn jazz trumpet. There's even an instrumental ode to baseball great Curt Flood, who brought Major League Baseball to the Supreme Court with a 1970 lawsuit against the reserve clause.
Mixed by T-Bone Burnett, Rick Will, and Daniel Lanois, Fuse finds Henry comfortable and assured. When the last song, "We'll Meet Again," rings in with a blithe farewell, it's with a warranted confidence.
