Tim Easton - Porcupine reviews
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| Slantmagazine |
 Emphasizing the "rock" half of the roots-rock tag, Tim Easton's Porcupine is an appropriately prickly record that is an about-face from the more restrained but still compelling and distinctive Americana style of his previous four albums. While 2006's Ammunition demonstrated that Easton could pull off a laid-back, mid-period Bob Dylan folk vibe better than most of his contemporaries, the rawness of Brad Jones's and Robin Eaton's production here is a better fit with Easton's needle-sharp songwriting and his ragged voice, making for his most aesthetically mature album to date. Easton sounds so natural on the choppy, syncopated title cut and opener "Burgundy Red," which rides along a rhythm track that recalls Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)," that one wonders why he hasn't explored a harder-edged sound before. Even better are "Broke My Heart," which sounds like a long-lost Replacements single, and "Baltimore," a country-inflected sing-along on which Easton adopts the point of view of a serial killer. There's also a strong vintage blues influence running throughout the record, giving a real punch to riotous numbers like "Stormy" and "Get What I Got" while also giving shape to the ballads, the best of which is the album-closing "Goodbye Amsterdam," making for a stylistically cohesive project and Easton's most fully-realized album to date....full text |
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| Popmatters |
An enduring image I have of Tim Easton is him warming up for an outdoor gig in Walla Walla, Washington. The opening act was mid-set. Easton wandered off with his acoustic Gibson. After a few minutes, I went to find him. He was wandering down a railroad track, harmonica on his neck, playing “All the Pretty Girls Leave Town”. It occurred to me in that moment that most of his music may come from situations just like this. What for most of us is a photograph is to Tim Easton a song. For a decade now he has been putting these pictures to music and forging paths that are his own. While the rest of his industry is busy with the sky falling, he wanders and writes. The product of those wanderings and writings are always honest, compelling and delivered in a way that only Easton can.
His latest, Porcupine, is different though. It’s a 14-song cycle that doesn’t so much pick up where Ammunition left off as it does light off all that Ammunition on fire and watch is blow. This is not the Tim Easton who crooned his way through “Next To You”. This is the Tim Easton who commanded the stage with bands like the Whipsaws, Two Cow Garage and Rosavelt....full text |
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| Timeaston |
It's a versatile artist who feels he's no longer confined to any one particular style and subsequently allows himself to infuse more disparate elements into his sound. So give credit to Tim Easton with breaking the Americana mold on this, his fifth album, and expanding his parameters into realms of Blues, R&B and other traditional templates. Whether or not its title was intended to reflect the temperament remains a matter of conjecture, but suffice it to say this is a somewhat, um, prickly outlay in terms of tone and treatment. "Burgundy Red," the crazed rockabilly rave-up that jumpstarts the album, suggests something's askew early on, and with the cool cat shuffle of "Stormy," the dark, descending chords of "Get What I Got" and the swampy bluesy snarl that shades "The Young Girls," Easton's manic attitude is vented in full view.
That's not to say Easton doesn't seize on sentiment. His parched vocals leave an indelible impression on "Broke My Heart" ("There's only two things left in this world/Love and the lack thereof"), while the easy saunter of "7th Wheel" and "Baltimore" indicate he hasn't abandoned his heartland instincts altogether. Ultimately, it's the bittersweet aftertaste of "Goodbye Amsterdam" that mellows the mood and mitigates some of those edgier elements that created such a commotion....full text |
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