Declaration of bias: I unreservedly and unabashedly love the
McClymonts (sisters Brooke, Samantha and Mollie who all sing, and play, in
order, guitar, bass and mandolin). I have seen them play live numerous times
and plan to keep seeing them play as often as possible. I favourably reviewed their first album all the way back in 2007.
Counterbalance to this bias: their style of country pop/rock
is not one I automatically warm to – I normally favour the
singer/songwriter alt-country style. So the fact that I love them so much is
testament to their considerable talents.
Now that I’ve stated all of that, let’s look at their new
album, Two Worlds Collide. I
purposely didn’t review their second album, Wrapped
Up Good, not because I didn’t think it was great, but because I didn’t
think it was as great as their debut album, Chaos
and Bright Lights, and the reason for that seemed to be that they’d relied
too much on co-writers and not enough on their own songwriting talents
(Brooke’s, in particular). Chaos and Bright Lights was light on the co-writes and it was a very strong effort. Wrapped Up Good sounded a bit like
they’d listened to people telling them that they should do this, that and the
other – like they hadn’t trusted themselves as much as they had on the first
album.
Happily, Two Worlds
Collide sounds more like the McClymonts in control of their own songwriting
destiny. Youngest sister Mollie seems to have more involvement, for one thing,
and while there are co-writers credited, they’re not as prevalent as on Wrapped Up Good.
This is a very strong album – possibly their best. Actually,
yes, their best. All of the songs are well constructed, easy on the ear and
catchy. As always, they harmonise like a dream. The sisters’ voices are at the fore and the instrumentation supports
them – an acknowledgement that these voices are now what people recognise and
expect, and want to hear.
There’s the odd song that sounds like it should have
Samantha singing instead of Brooke (‘Where You Are’, ‘Little Old Beat Up
Heart’) as they’re more reminiscent of her style, but we do get our
Samantha-sung ballads on ‘Piece of Me’ and ‘Those Summer Days’. ‘This Ain’t
Over’ was penned by Samantha and a couple of other writers, and it sounds very
much like one of her songs – except Brooke sings it. This in no way detracts
from the song, it’s just a curiosity (and possibly only curious to me, who has
clearly spent a lot of time pondering the songwriting credits).
The McClymonts consistently put on one of the best live
shows I’ve ever seen, in any musical genre. They are entertainers. They
understand what their audience needs and they deliver, always with a smile and
consummate professionalism. The same is true for this album – what we need is
sweet melodies; some lyrics that are lovesick and sentimental and some that are
strong or confessional; an album that is satisfying and that we can listen to
over and over again. And we are given all of that. This is not revolutionary country music, if that’s what
you’re looking for. But it is a really fantastic country pop/rock album that
will not disappoint their growing legions of fans or anyone who is curious to
know what they’re about. This is what professional musicians sound like when
they hit their stride and know that there’s an audience waiting for them. They
have not let us down, and I can’t imagine they ever will.
Two Worlds Collide by The McClymonts (Universal) is available now.
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