Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose POLL

only just caught up with the two new pre-release songs and holy shit this album (THE BLADE) is going to be good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFD-YevcEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HO86LNKx7c

24 july!

Re "The Blade" – now here's a way to invigorate a tired metaphor with an unexpected spin (unlike, say, most of the Musgraves album).

great album title, right? and even better when you hear the metaphor

"i buried your love alive" - never thought ashley would be interested in the gothic side of country but here we are and it's excellent

new album streaming. it's MAGNIFICENT

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/15/422555795/first-listen-ashley-monroe-the-blade

"dixie" is especially whoa

"If Love Was Fair" is my jam. Sounds like early eighties Fleetwood Mac.

Yeah this is v good. Better than the first probably.

sounds good so far, little sleepy

It's not better -- this one has two duds.

going to try to figure out which

yeah i heard no outright duds, "mayflowers" might be a bit inessential (or maybe i'm just skipping it bc i'm itching to get to "i'm good at leavin")

(i love how it starts and ends with ashley leaving, and in between are mostly the reasons why)

"From Time to Time" and "Bombshell" are the duds imo.

I knew w/out looking at the credits that Lambert had a hand in writing "I'm Good at Leavin'."

"Bombshell" are the duds imo.

the goddamn hell

and the chorus melody of "from time to time" is gorgeous

I'm going to wait to hear this until I have the record in my hand. The only new records I ever buy these days are women country singers. Was Bandy Clark's 12 Stories released on record? I wish that Angaleena Presley's 'American Middle Class' had been released on record.

i hope the vinyl is a decent pressing. i'll probably buy this on CD first, though. 'like a rose' has yet to leave heavy rotation in my car cd player.

the two pistol annies albums are both on vinyl. i should buy those.

"From Time to Time" and "Bombshell" are the duds imo.

no no NO these are not duds!

yes yes yes!

They are so not duds---"Bombshell" is where she shifts from an initial impression of a tendency to stasis---where you get it all, and maybe get hooked, in the first verse and chorus, then stick around, to increasingly, if vaguely, diminishing returns, as the mind starts to wander---shifts to a more dynamic, moody yet sufficiently gravitational speculation: drop it on him now? How, "It's never a good time for a bombshell," but she's still checking her options...haven't heard a song about this situation, so in that respect, as well as the actual sound, I make a mental note for my future mix, The Great Lost Pistol Annies Album.
"From Time To Time" (like several on here)might be another one for the same destination, although in this case, the multiple Monroes have more of a post-Beatles/Fleetwood Mac/Dixie Chickc/Courtyard Hounds/multiple solo Maines/Mona Lisa: real friendly and slightly exotic (which is a friendly warning not to take friendliness for granted).
Despite her turning the pages in the stylebook--without trying to hide it---this set is more emotionally and/or sensually involving than Like A Rose.
Her debut, Satisfied, is also engaging---it's uneven, but the best tracks, written when she was a teen and maybe even a tween, are adolescent adventures in the best sense.

Stasis creeps back in on "If The Devil Don't Want Me," maybe some of the other second-half tracks too, but they (and the better ones nearby) are still strong enough to keep me hangin' around, if not on.

"bombshell" is a great concept executed really well, dow nails it. and it fits in really well with the overarching themes.

"from time to time" i find really powerful, as much for what's not in the song (that i've heard yet) as what's in it...there are secrets and darknesses beneath its tenderness. and as brad says it's just a straight-up gorgeous melody.

Despite her turning the pages in the stylebook--without trying to hide it---this set is more emotionally and/or sensually involving than Like A Rose.

agree with this too; it builds on like a rose so well, takes its strengths and fleshes them out, pushes them in multiple unexpected directions

And again, with the Pistol Annies-associated knack for fresh topics: considering that your love was (def past tense) "heaven," then, if the devil don't want her, where can she go? Purgatory? Celibacy? Just everyday numbnuts office bus station cafeteria reality? It's a good question, long as she can keep asking it, and putting off the answers.

http://www.spin.com/2015/07/review-ashley-monroe-the-blade/

i'm seeing her live tonight at an NPR first listen show; looking forward to it obviously

hope it doesn't bury your love alive

i'm planning on catching it by the handle.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20813-the-blade/

not sure ilxors will like the content of that review, but nice that p4k has reviewed another not too alt-y album favourably

Alfred's review is a lot more fun to read because it doesn't waste time justifying/indiesplaining the genre

Like so many country albums, especially recent ones by Monroe's friend and bandmate Miranda Lambert, The Blade could be stronger if it was more streamlined and sequenced with some kind of overarching narrative in mind

haha yeah that sentence is not great

amazing how the integrity of the album must be preserved and nurtured at all times

and that this album lacks a narrative

Now Sgt. Pepper's, there's proper narrative for you

dammit should've done Now that's what I call music pun...

I take it as a break-up album, purt' near. Maybe with a few relatively mellow memories, but basically, she's moved/moving on (Tex in her rear-view mirror, fair amount of distance already). Not cold, but details are more in the music than the lyrics (no gory)

But also, it's past time for the country Sgt. Pepper's! "He blew his mind out in a truck..."

or if it's Miranda Lambert it's "I blew his brains in a truck."

it was 20 years ago today / mutt lange taught the band to play

xp blew out, or just blew bc depending on the lambert song could be either tbh

i mean the lyric of "bombshell" is incredible on its own

embodying all of the scenarios in which one could possibly deliver bad news, none of which manage to soften it

"bombshell" is fantastic. everything about it.

it'll never be a good time

album confirms my theory that she was the best of the class of 2013

album confirms my theory that she is the center of gravity for "nashville," the tv show. they've used a bunch of her songs but, jesus, every song on this album is perfect for one character or another. it helps, of course, that breaking up is every "nashville" character's favorite activity.

New album is now on Spotify.

that chorus is from heaven tho

she sounds heavenly everywhere tho

btw, this came out last week and is on heavy rotation at chez forks. as good or better than anything on the album imo but has gotten zero attention
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT8DKJHniSI

"Gold" is actually the lamest song -- the chorus just...sits there.

I totally missed the news that she had been diagnosed with NHL a few years back, but it sounds like she us since made a full recovery and this implies (without ever quite confirming) that a new album is on the way:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/ashley-monroe-her-musical-fresh-171500939.html

I also missed the single from late last year “Over Everything” which (a) suggests a partial-but-not-total return to country; and (b) is lovely.

I found Rosegold a bit too deliberate in its shift at times; this feels a bit more comfortable while still occupying a pretty gauzy, atmospheric space.

Oh wow, didn't know that stuff either. Glad she's on the mend

https://x.com/ashleymonroe/status/1770813962164019203?s=20