Jamie Kent - All-American Mutt
It is unfair to slap any sort of label
on Jamie Kent’s third full length album All-American Mutt. This isn’t simply
Americana, but there’s parts of that. Kent, instead, just deserves the moniker
of “musician”. His influences clearly cut across a variety of borders, both
compositional and purely stylistic and he’s able to vocally inhabit a number of
different skins. Kent has been playing with the same musical partners for a
number of years and two hundred plus live shows every year for the last few
years has bolstered an already extant chemistry between the players. The name
on the release might be one man, but they never play like they are merely a
vehicle for Kent’s songwriting. Instead, this sounds like a band, live on the
floor, and making even more of these ten songs thanks to their knowing
interplay.
The title song drives that point home
fast. It sounds so effortless, like it flows out of Kent in a continuous wave,
and there’s a confidence working here that has all of the rough edges smoothed
out and comforts the listener instead of confronting them with their
differences. Kent’s memorable chorus drives home the song’s ultimate point.
“Look Up” is handled with deft, understated sophistication and builds its
success from a restrained arrangement and lyrical content most adults will have
no trouble connecting with even if they haven’t personally experienced a moment
like this. “Home Again” could have sank under the weight of melodrama but,
instead, it achieves a remarkable cinematic quality thanks to the specificity
of the song’s details and Kent’s vocal creating a true flesh and blood
character for listeners to care about.
The sculpted acoustic guitar lines and
lyrical vocal from Kent on the track “Safe” distinguish it as one of
All-American Mutt’s standout songs. It has a perfect length and achieves just
the right emotional pitch without ever seeming too purple or overwrought. The
final two ballads on the album, however, are the highlights of how sensitive
Kent can be as a songwriter and performer. The first of the two, “Red Rover”,
teams Kent with the vocal talents of
Michaela Anne and the pairing provides a perfect accompaniment to
carefully rendered backing track that the band provides in support. The last
song “Embrace the Disaster” is, arguably, the apogee of Kent’s songwriting on
this album. It feels like a track when Kent has found his largest scar and
feels determined to rip away the scab so a different kind of healing can begin.
Despite the delicate reading he gives the track, it is full of pain balanced by
the soft and yielding voice of second singer Alyssa Bonagura. These two final
moments on an album filled with memorable outings put a certain flair on the
conclusion that its beginning didn’t hint at. All-American Mutt is a third
album of entertaining depth and sets Kent’s stage for an even brighter future.
Pamela Bellmore
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