| This Side - Nickel Creek | |
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Reviewed by Jennifer Webb
Nickel Creek is back with their new album, This Side, a collection of phenomenal songs that prove that the band is not about to stand back and disappear into the country music "crowd." The overall sound is different than their self-titled debut, which is great because they are able to show the listeners that they can grow and evolve with the best of the other musicians out there performing.
The smooth and flowing instrumental, "The Smoothie Song," written by Chris Thile starts the album off with the same old style Nickel Creek have done in the past, yet also clues in the listeners and lets them know that there will be some different sounds on This Side - all without lyrics as clues.
Chris Thile tackles some high notes with ease on the beginning and end of the tune, "Spit On A Stranger." The whole premise is that sometimes after something bad happens you realize the mistake you made and then wish that you could go back to change the outcome of the awful situation. The person you were becomes a stranger in your mind and you get fed up with yourself for being so dumb - so much so, that you feel like you could spit on that "stranger."
"Hanging By A Thread" is one of those songs that you hear and instantly love with its slow pace and strong lyrics consisting of such lines as "With you here baby I am strong, no sign of weakness. With you gone, baby I am hanging by a thread." Though the song is about missing a person, the aching emotion that Chris displays in his voice is superb and when Sean and Sara join in on the chorus you cannot help but be amazed at the beauty of everything in this song.
Our first glimpse of Sara singing lead on this album can be found in the "heavy" sounding "I Should Have Known Better," which is about a relationship that started out rocky and ended the very same way. She should have realized from the beginning that the guy was no good, but she let love stand in the way and now it has ended with a letter that did nothing but make her heart sink. If you listen closely, you might be able to hear a chicken noise toward the end of the song to emphasize just what she thinks of the guy.
The title track, "This Side," features Sean Watkins singing lead on one of the songs that he wrote for the album. It is a great single to release to radio and I hope it gets its fair share of airplay. The guy in the song says that being in love is a pretty foreign thing to him at first and that it will be hard to break out of his shell because "there's no place to hide and [he's] nothing but scared." Yet later on, after they end up breaking off the relationship, he realizes that he really was comfortable having a girlfriend and he wants to get back out there and hopefully find a girl that was better than the last as he says "There's no place to hide, but I don't think I'm scared."
Chris Thile is a master at writing unique and highly intelligent songs, yet "Young" features all of that with more of a fun sing-along beat and sound to it. The subject of the song wants to know why the girl he likes thinks she is so much better than him, when he knows he did absolutely nothing to make her act as snobby as she is. He knows she does not need anybody (according to her words), but he wants to know if she is that sure that he is not the "one" for her to like. He says, "It's not like I wanna get married. I never asked you to kiss me. Just don't want you to be sorry you didn't try." In other words, he is pretty full of him self too and they would probably make the "perfect couple."
As with their debut album, Alison Krauss produced This Side, and everything sounds so perfect. Every note, every instrument, every lyric just fits perfectly with Chris, Sara, and Sean's voices and abilities to play their instruments. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the album and I cannot stop listening to it - just like I am sure everyone who purchases it will soon find out.
Song List:
Album cover courtesy of Sugar Hill.
Sound clips courtesy of Nickel Creek's Official Website.
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