Californian singer-songwriter Cass McCombs' expansive new double LP is a compelling collection of countrified folk. Its native soil clearly found in the sixties and seventies, Big Wheel and Others might feel overly familiar at times, but such familiarity comes with great warmth and lyrical precision. Following the tradition of Gram Parsons, Rick Nelson, and the Byrds, McCombs positions himself as a serious artist working within an established framework.
Though McCombs might sound closest to My Morning Jacket's Jim James during many of the record's songs, on "The Burning of the Temple" he dons his best early-Leonard Cohen hat (both vocally and lyrically) to dazzling effect. The lightly flat, half-spoken vocal tactic (sometimes more akin to Lou Reed or Bob Dylan than Leonard Cohen) is used intermittently throughout Big Wheel and Others, most ethereally on the spacey "Joe Murder" and the structurally complex, stereotype-bashing "Everything Has to Be Just So."
Lyrically, McCombs is a careful poet, using the standard references to Shakespeare, the Bible, and American history with a certain ironic irreverence. He philosophizes coolly, without letting emotion overtake his pat, level-headed delivery of aphorisms and observations. Even at his silliest (the rollicking "Satan is My Toy"), McCombs still is a sturdy writer. His oddball sense of humor (present even when he completely hands the reins over to guest vocalist Karen Black on "Brighter!"), somehow cooperates with earnest-sounding songs. Interspersed interview clips involving a precocious child with idiosyncratic views, add to the darkly comic tone that pervades the record.
Big Wheel and Others is a largely refreshing work, an easy album to glide through the length of. Though there is a bit of unnecessary padding (such as the throwaway elevator-music jam "It Means A Lot to Know You Care," a bland intermission of sorts), the record mostly justifies its running time. Cass McCombs displays a virtuosity that is fully developed and accomplished, releasing a set of songs as pleasurable to listen to as it is artistically rich.
Grade: B+
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