Ryan Adams is one of those artists whose name is almost always preceded by the word “prolific.” The man is insatiably productive-his website is titled “Ryan Adams is an Author and Solo Artist. He is also a Member of the Pro Rock Band The Cardinals.” Adams puts out an album a year, give or take, he blogs, he dates famous girls, and he gets in fights with the press and his fans.
This restless energy is responsible both for the good and the bad in Adams’ output. Considering the sheer amount of music he releases, he has a pretty good track record: almost everything is listenable, some is great. But this freneticness, this desire to do everything all at once means that many of his albums end up feeling like ideas rather than work. Each new album is a different version of Ryan Adams, both musically and in a broader stylistic way, like a shelf of thematic Barbies. There’s Heartbroken Southern Ryan, Rock and Roll Deconstructionist Ryan, Sad Junkie Ryan, and Roots Rocker Ryan. All are enjoyable enough, in their own way, but all ultimately feel like poses, playing with the idea of an album and songs rather than really committing to one.
Cardinology, recorded with Adams’ semi-permanent house band, the Cardinals, presents us with Neil Young Ryan, or maybe Traveling Willburies Ryan. The Southern wail is a bit more pronounced, the guitars are crunchy on “Magick,” and homespun and wistful on “Evergreen.” Adams sings about love lost and life unfulfilled in appealingly vague lyrics the kind of lyrics that can strike you as perfect if you’re not paying attention, but that don’t really add up to anything all that meaningful. Adams can certianly write a song, and he has some great moments here-the catchy but aching chorus of “Sink Ships,” the dramatic chords at the bridge of “Crossed Out Name.” But as a whole, the album fades out of the foreground, an amorphous wash of pretty steel pedal and appealing back-up singers, that neither demands nor rewards close attention or emotional connection.
Ryan Adams can, and has, written music that catches you on the first listen and stays with you in strange and unsettling ways, that encapsulates a mood such that you can’t feel that way again without thinking of his song. If he would just calm down a bit and focus, perhaps he could make it that way every single time.
Voice’s Choices: “Cobwebs,” “Natural Ghost,” “Fix It”
