Music Review
The True False Identity
T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett hasn?t released any of his own music for more than 14 years. In between he?s been pretty busy, racking up awards and working with a long list of musicians like The Wallflowers, Counting Crows, as well as helming film projects like the grammy-award winning 'O Brother Where Art Thou' soundtrack and 'Walk The Line' amongst others.
He has finally found time to return to the studio and it?s a good thing. He has come back with The True False Identity, as enigmatically titled as most of his other stuff.
Lyrically things haven?t changed too much?lots of biting cynicism, political critique, spiritual yearning and dog-eared sense of humour. Musically it?s another story. He sounds like he met the ghost of Tom Waits, the spirit of Daniel Lanois and the meanderings of Bob Dylan, mixed it all up and spewed out a dissonant, sometimes bleak but always compelling dose of postmodern blues.
In interviews he has been talking a lot about losing grit and dirt in the studio, spending to much time worrying about which notes fit and which don?t?he decided that didn?t matter with his own record. So you will hear a lot of weird sounds and tunings, but somehow it all works?Marc Ribot on guitar and the always lovely Jim Keltner on drums lend a vibe to Burnett?s style that he has not found before. True False Identity was a long time coming, but well worth the wait.
He has finally found time to return to the studio and it?s a good thing. He has come back with The True False Identity, as enigmatically titled as most of his other stuff.
Lyrically things haven?t changed too much?lots of biting cynicism, political critique, spiritual yearning and dog-eared sense of humour. Musically it?s another story. He sounds like he met the ghost of Tom Waits, the spirit of Daniel Lanois and the meanderings of Bob Dylan, mixed it all up and spewed out a dissonant, sometimes bleak but always compelling dose of postmodern blues.
In interviews he has been talking a lot about losing grit and dirt in the studio, spending to much time worrying about which notes fit and which don?t?he decided that didn?t matter with his own record. So you will hear a lot of weird sounds and tunings, but somehow it all works?Marc Ribot on guitar and the always lovely Jim Keltner on drums lend a vibe to Burnett?s style that he has not found before. True False Identity was a long time coming, but well worth the wait.