* TIFT MERRITT “Bramble Rose” [ 1/2] Lost Highway/Universal
On Tift Merritt’s debut country album, “Bramble Rose,” the 27-year-old singer/songwriter pours forth prettily about love from a few different perspectives, mixing realism and romanticism.
In a lovely, old-fashioned song reminiscent in both sentiment and style of Patsy Cline, Merritt poses the question, “Are You Still in Love With Me?” to an old beau as the steel pedal guitars gently weep. And in “Supposed to Make You Happy,” she dreams about what wasn’t.
Formerly of the Carbines, the Raleigh, N.C., musician penned these 11 songs herself, then went into the studio with her former band and recorded the album live without overdubs or retakes.
Merritt, whose songbird vocals also have an edgy firmness, is already drawing comparisons to country stars like Cline, Emmylou Harris and labelmate Lucinda Williams, but she has shades of Sheryl Crow and Nancy Griffith as well.
As she sings in the title track, “She’s a real good woman nobody knows” – but we’re looking forward to getting to know her better.
* CHRIS HILLMAN and HERB PEDERSEN “Way Out West” [] Back Porch
Formerly of the Desert Rose Band, Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, who first met when they were teens, are two roots rockers who played their way through the ’60s in the Golden State.
You may remember Hillman as a member of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Hillman and Pedersen are now harmonizing amid the acoustics on their new “Way Out West,’ a bluegrass folk rock album which walks back in time through California country.
Swerving from Cajun styles to classic honky tonk and fiddle-filled waltzes, the duo offers covers of Doc Pomus’ “Save the Last Dance for Me,” and the Louvin Brothers’ “Are You Missing Me?” as well as some originals, bound to be new classics.
It’s yet another album for those in need of an “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” fix.
* DJ SHADOW “The Private Press” [] MCA
Six years ago DJ Shadow, a.k.a. San Francisco native Josh Davis, beat up the dance world with “Endtroducing,” a breakthrough album made entirely of samples.
His sophomore disc is a long time coming for fans – and, along with Moby’s “18,” is the techno must-have for the summer.
The experimental instrumental hip-hop pioneer is a master of creating soundscapes. He knows how to stack mood-altering sounds – like the watery pianos, slow spaghetti Western guitars, electronic beats and synthetic sounds of “Fixed Income” – on top of each other to create a whirlwind of feelings.
Besides “Fixed Income,” the best here include the instrumentals “Giving Up the Ghost” and “Mongrel Meets His Maker” – with a curious unanswered old telephone ringing among the waves of crashing sound.
The rapping word-heavy vocal tracks are among the album’s few weak points.
DJ Shadow performs tonight at the Bowery Ballroom (6 Delancey St., at Bowery, [212] 533-2111).
* MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY “Loss” [] XL Recordings
This smashing debut album from Scotland’s Mull Historical Society will change Britpop the way you know it.
The Glasgow-based Society is really 30-year-old boy wonder Colin McIntyre, who wrote and arranged all the music and recorded most of it himself – leaving only the drums and extra keyboards to someone else.
As he sings in the charming “Watching Xanadu,” a Beach Boys-type pop dittie with a message, he “can do anything.”
The album is a pure pop pleasure filled with harmonies, but it adds unexpected twists and turns with organ touches, electronic beats and synthetic sounds.
Musically it’s terrifically diverse, but layered on top of that are insightful lyrics, full of personal revelations. It’s one of those albums with lyrics to pore over as well as music to smile to.
McIntyre’s voice, which sounds like a mix of David Gray, Elvis Costello and Ryan Adams, can tackle the album’s many moods. The poignant “Barcode Bypass”; “This Is Not Who We Were,” about production workers’ fallen dreams; and the powerful “Animal Cannibus” are among the CD’s best tracks.
One track offers “If you can’t find your peace of mind, then join the Mull Historical Society.”
You’ll be signing up by disc’s end.
