Natalie Merchant
Motherland
On Sale Now
For $13.75

As a fan of much of Merchant’s work with 10,000 Maniacs, I can’t say I’ve been overly impressed with her solo career thus far. Aside from hook-y hit singles like “Wonder” and “Jealousy,” there just wasn’t much there. In the Maniacs, she always at least had that impeccably tasteful band behind her led by the late guitarist Robert Buck (he died of liver failure in 2000). So I was glad to see for her latest record, Merchant brought in impeccably tasteful producer T. Bone Burnett (Counting Crows, Elvis Costello, Sam Phillips, O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack). Motherland also features a number of fine session pros in support roles including bassist Graham Maby (Joe Jackson, Freedy Johnston), keyboard player Patrick Warren (Michael Penn, Aimee Mann), drummer Matt Chamberlain, and guitarist Greg Leisz. Van Dyke Parks even turns up playing accordion on one track.

Fortunately, Merchant has also come up with an intriguing and diverse collection of songs here. In fact, it almost sounds like two separate records divided by a song that could have come from a third.

The opening “This House Is On Fire” shows Merchant breaking out of the comfort zone she established on earlier solo efforts. “I don’t have the gift of the prophesy / Telling everybody how it’s gonna be,” she sings against a Middle Eastern accented musical backdrop. Her voice sounds lower, richer and more full than it has before. It also sounds like she’s been listening to a lot of Macy Gray and Dave Matthews, or at least been gargling with whatever they gargle with.

The title track is a pretty acoustic number with banjo, mandolin, and Parks’ aforementioned accordion. The lyrics are also compelling if a touch too literal. “Now come on shot gun bride, what makes me envy your life? / Faceless, nameless, innocent, blameless and free, what’s that like to be,” she sings.

Mavis Staples joins Merchant on vocals for two R&B-folk-old time gospel numbers, the banjo-tinged “Saint Judas” and “Build A Levee” with David Ralicke adding texture on saxophone. They’re broken up by “Put the Law On You” which sounds almost like it could have come from the John Lee Hooker or Screaming Jay Hawkins blues songbooks.

The cult of celebrity tale “Golden Boy” is one of Motherland’s most interesting tracks both musically and lyrically. Gabriel Gordon’s E-bow guitar provides the atmosphere as Merchant sings “Heroes are born, idols are made / We’re all fools for this factory fame and you’ve got the brand new face.”

The dramatic, string-laden “Henry Darger” provides an impressive centerpiece to the record. It doesn’t sound of a piece with the rest of the album though. It’s almost like it was intended for a different project entirely. The classical guitar colored “The Worst Thing” is Motherland’s only dull moment despite a verse sung in Spanish.

From there, the record takes another detour on the remaining four songs. “Tell Yourself” is markedly more modern sounding and would have fit in on one of Merchant’s earlier efforts. In fact, she sounds the most like herself here, showing remarkable empathy as she speaks directly to adolescent girls struggling with their self-image in the face of media depictions of women. “Tell yourself you’ll never be like the anorexic beauties in the magazines / Just a bargain basement Barbie doll, no belle du jour, no femme fatale,” she sings. In the record’s liner notes, Merchant thanks not only family and friends but also a long list of female role models from history including Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahalia Jackson.

“Just Can’t Last” has an appealing modern sound as well highlighted by atmospheric guitar from Gabriel Gordon and pedal steel by Erik Della Penna.

The theme of female empowerment extends to “Not In This Life.” On it Merchant sings: “Lately it’s occurred to me exactly what went wrong / I realized I compromised, I sacrificed far too much for far too long / Never again, not in this life, will I be taken twice.”

And she sounds firmly in control on the moody piano ballad “I’m Not Gonna Beg” when she sings “Straight talk, give me the straight talk / Tell me what’s on your mind if it ain’t love / I’m not gonna beg you for nothing / I’m not gonna beg you for your love.” But there is cynicism there as well. “I know ‘once upon a time’ and ‘ever after’ is a lie,” she sings.

Motherland is a promising second start for Merchant’s solo career, tasteful yet innovative. Now if she could just lighten up a little, maybe throw in a few jokes. Okay, maybe that’s too much to hope for. On her third solo record, Merchant is who she is and a lot more too.

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