Son Volt - The Search

Jay Farrar has been unjustly criticized for not taking his music in more adventurous or diverse directions far too frequently. Farrar's and his label’s pre-release comments about the “different instrumentation” on The Search, the follow-up to 2005’s excellent Son Volt comeback, Okemah and the Melody of Riot, led one to believe he might be trying to answer his critics by making his own Yankee Hotel Foxtrot like rival Jeff Tweedy. While it’s nowhere near that much of a diversion, the horns and social commentary during “The Picture” and the overproduction of “Underground Dream” are some of the moments that leave you wishing he’d stick to what he and Son Volt do best: playing sorrow-packed, full-of-emotion rock behind Farrar’s mournful voice. Farrar proves he still has it, however, on “Methamphetamine,” the standout country ballad with the lyric “Still waitin’ to meet the next ex-wife,” and the beautiful duet with Shannon McNally, “Highways and Cigarettes.” The Search is also a great guitar record, although it can be a little too tight in places. The bruising slide of “Action” and “Automatic Society” is a long way from the drunken sloppiness of Uncle Tupelo, but those songs rock really hard, as do a number of other tracks (“The Search” and “Satellite” come to mind). Farrar is one of the foremost figures of alt-country, so there are often unfair expectations placed upon him, especially in the shadow of Tweedy. With such a long (albeit inconsistent) career, it’s expected he’d want to try new things. As the saying goes, however, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. [www.sonvolt.net]