(Photo courtesy Ryan Adams)Ten years after he painfully groaned about the hells of love and secured his place as America's favorite sensitive artsy boy, Ryan Adams has somehow managed to prove that he's still got some poetry in him.
After his diagnosis with a degenerative, possibly debilitating inner ear condition in 2009, it seemed like the end was near, especially after his announcement that he would be leaving his band, the Cardinals, and “taking a step back from music.” 2011’s “Ashes & Fire” relieved some of these fears, but with Adams’s previous album-a-year pace, the slowdown was obvious.
Then, this year, after three years of near radio silence (other than producing Fall Out Boy’s “PAX AM Days” in October 2013), Adams dropped a punk EP, “1984,” and announced the impending release of his eponymous 14th album.
This newest release is markedly different than the Ryan Adams the world of alternative music fell in love with in the early 2000s. A steady, unwavering sound that carries through the entire album replaces his all-over-the-place style and strained vocals.
“Gimme Something Good,” the first song on the album which doubles as its single, shows a vocal richness unseen on any of Adams’s previous works. This, combined with the cool-guy phrasing and rock guitars reminiscent of Tom Petty, is a strange contrast with the Adams some are used to but ultimately provide a level of depth to Adams’ style that no one ever knew was missing.[embed size="compact"]Ryan Adams – Tired Of Giving Up[/embed]
The album's second cut, "Kim," proves that the loss of his boyish vocals hasn’t taken the beloved sad boy poetics out of his work. As he longingly moans the name of his lost love, it's hard not to get caught up in his yearning the way listeners did with 2004’s “Love is Hell.” However, similar in tone to his previous works, it’s impossible not to see the maturity gained in his vocals, lyrics and musicality in the newfound smoothness of his voice and instrumentation.
The most standout track on the album, however, is without a doubt the catchy “My Wrecking Ball.” Adams’s talent has been proven so frequently over the years that it's hard to believe that he still has anything left in him to shock listeners. Nonetheless, as I heard the chorus of “My Wrecking Ball” for the first time, I was thrown off by the gritty earnestness he could still somehow manipulate all these years after he should have fallen into the pit of overproduction and sour emotion that swallows up rock’s great poetic talents once they’ve run out of heartbreaks about which to sing.
With his continued ability to mature even after 14 wildly successful albums, it's hard to doubt that Adams will still be around for as long as fate allows him to. If he continues to produce albums as good as this one, here's to hoping that that's a long, long time.
Reach the reporter at ezentner@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @emilymzentner
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