RAY LAMONTAGNE – GOD WILLIN’ & THE CREEK DON’T RISE

For three albums Ray LaMontagne’s smokey, intimate tones and earthy folk tunes have built a strong and well deserved following, but that vein has been well mined and as God Willin’ the Creek Don’t Rise opens hopes are high for a re-birth. Repo Man is the cracking opening to Ray LaMontagne’s fourth album (although the first to credit his band in the title), and it’s funky, gritty feel, led by an upright bass and spitting lyrics leads to hopes that LaMontagne is going to break from the very successful but increasingly limiting mould he has previously created. Unfortunately courage seems to escape Ray after that as the mild, sad country of New York City’s Killing Me follows and then more of the same. The jazzy This Love Is Over shows Ray at his best, and the all too occasional use of banjo or mandola should be encourage as the expansion in sound palette immediately lifts the songs. Clearly deciding to self-produce this album at a time he needed to be stretched out of his comfort zone was a step too far. The results will sit comfortably with fans, but are too patchy to go beyond that.

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