Ray LaMontagne: Long Way Home
Vinyl | CD | DL
Available 16th August here
Ray LaMontagne is back with his 9th studio album, Long Way Home, reviewed by Natalie Royle.
Recorded and produced by LaMontagne in his home studio, the follow up to critically acclaimed Monovision pays homage to the journey of life that LaMontagne has been on so far and also everything that’s coming up ahead, delivered in his unique blend of Americana, folk, rock and blues. LaMontagne tapped both long-time and new collaborators across the record— Americana duo The Secret Sisters provide backing vocals on the first three tracks, while the album was engineered and mixed by the team of LaMontagne, Kauffman, and Ariel Bernstein.
When LaMontagne was 21, he caught a Townes Van Zandt concert at a small club in Minneapolis. He was struck by the lyric “When here you been is good an gone, all you keep is the getting there” from Van Zandt’s “To Live Is To Fly” song. The line continues to stick with LaMontagne who recalled how the lyric inspired Long Way Home. He reflects, “every song on Long Way Home is in one way or another honoring the journey. The languorous days of youth and innocence. The countless battles of adulthood, some won, more often lost. It’s been a long hard road, and I wouldn’t change a minute. It took me nine songs to express what Townes managed to say in one line. I guess I still got a lot to learn.”
The first track on the album and also the first single to be released, is the uplifting and motivational Step Into Your Power. This song has a real gospel feel and LaMontagne encourages his listeners to manifest their goals with lines such as “anything that your heart can dream, you can make it reality”. He also sings of not being “afraid to fall” – a theme which is carried through into the next track I Wouldn’t Change A Thing – one of my personal favourites on this album – a beautiful song of contentment and reflection on past experiences and life choices with a sense of peace and acceptance of what is.
Yearning is next which speaks of the struggles amidst the beauty of life and love (“I got my baby in my arms you know I’m feeling alright”), and again the importance of accepting what is and not fighting fate (“my weapons falling without a sound….I will face my fate with head held high and standing tall”) whilst time passes quietly by.
And They Called Her California has a real nostalgic feel of 1970’s American folk-rock that Ray is renowned for, complete with harmonica. You could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to Neil Young singing this track. In fact the whole album has a timeless, almost vintage quality to it.
La Dee Dum, La Dee Da is perhaps for me the weakest song on the album and feels a bit more like a filler than the other, stronger tracks on the album. The song almost has a feel of a sea shanty – the only vocals on this track are the title lyrics, which are repeated throughout.
My Lady Fair is a celebration of love and has a real upbeat, almost carnival-like quality to it, with the trumpet and organ adding to this jubilant feel. This contrasts beautifully with the next song The Way Things Are – another song about the beauty and peace that comes with living with the attitude of acceptance and not placing importance in fickle things such as fame or materialistic objects “if we close our eyes we might see things clearer”. Ray’s uniquely distinctive voice, described by Rolling Stone as an “impeccably weathered tenor croon” is showcased perfectly in this song, alongside beautiful stripped back simple guitar.
Ray is also able to express and convey deep emotion without the need for lyrics and So Damned, Blue is an amazing example of this – a subtle yet heartfelt acoustic arrangement that allows listeners to immerse themselves in the music, experiencing the emotion without the need for words. This piece blends seamlessly into the title track and closing song on the album Long Way Home. This final song cleverly encapsulates the overarching themes of the album – reflection, personal growth, and accepting life’s ups and downs. This bittersweet song is the perfect finish to the album, with Ray singing of the importance of embracing all of life, even the hardships and endings, with the beautiful melancholic lyric “Winter come to us all my friend, Just as every childhood has an end”.
In summary Ray LaMontagne has once again managed to create an album full of introspective, personal yet highly relatable songs full of emotional authenticity. His unique soulful voice conveys the bittersweet rollercoaster of emotions that life throws at you – falling in love, heartache, new beginnings and final endings – and everything in between.
All words by Natalie Royle, you can find her author profile here
Ray LaMontagne can be found at Facebook | Twitter and their website
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