Sometimes a song just feels intrinsically like a classic. On first listen, you can’t help but wonder how you’ve never heard it before.
Such a feeling is evident when Christopher Owens sings, “Me, I don’t know why I keep roaming all the time, guess that roaming’s all that I’ve ever known / Though I don’t know why I keep falling off the line, I guess the line just ain’t for me to toe.”
These simple, perfectly-rhymed lines from key track “A Heart Akin the Wind,” epitomize the classic “three chords and the truth” country vibe Owens evokes throughout his newest solo release, “A New Testament.”
As its title suggests, the album is something of a revival for Owens. With his previous band Girls, Owens played fuzzy indie rock. Then last year, he released his first solo album, “Lysandre,” which harkened back to late-70s soft-rock, especially with its abundance of flute solos.
“A New Testament” sees Owens working in thoroughly countrified territory — though it’s not a straight country album. Within the simple structure of old-school country music, Owens incorporates rock guitar solos, powerful gospel backing vocals and pop hooks.
The second track, “Nothing More Than Everything to Me,” exemplifies the record’s style overall. Owens’ echoey vocals are boosted by a gospel choir, a slick electric guitar solo is accented by weeping background pedal steels and the chorus of “Oh my honey bee / you’re nothing more than everything to me,” is almost impossible to forget.
And though nothing on the album is really groundbreaking, the songs are so well crafted it almost doesn’t matter. Owens’ new backing band, an eclectic collection of men and women of all ages, is outstanding, and the album’s production is reverb-filled, but never excessive or intrusive for the musicians themselves.
Lyrically, the album treads on relatively well-worn territory: love, loss and the joys of slackerdom. There are some notable exceptions, however.
Opening song “My Troubled Heart” is a tongue-in-cheek secular play on Peter, Paul and Mary’s classic “Early In The Morning.” Anthemic ballad “Stephen” relates to Owens’ early life as a member of a Christian cult, and pays tribute to a brother who tragically died before Owens was born. The lyrics aren’t terribly subtle — see “It Comes Back To You,” which has lines like, “When you’re crying all alone / and you feel so far from home” — but Owens has always written with a certain degree of earnest simplicity. Even some of his more laughable turns of phrase are delivered with enough conviction to be taken seriously.
When he was in Girls, Owens sang in both a restrained whisper and a bombastic howl. The howl was fading by the time of “Lysandre,” and it is completely gone on “A New Testament.” For the most part, Owens sings high with a soft, double-tracked voice.
The closest comparison which comes to mind is Elliott Smith. Owens doesn’t bring quite the same degree of emotion to this vocal style as Smith, but he generally pulls it off. Nonetheless, it would be nice to see Owens use a little more of his range for the sake of variety.
“A New Testament” is not Christopher Owens at his very best, but it remains an incredibly catchy and well-written set of songs. Owens skillfully blends genres to yield a classic but unique sound. The album is highly listenable and full of energy, even if it at times lacks in complexity and variety.
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