Rich Robinson – The Ceaseless Light (ALBUM REVIEW)

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rich robinsonalbumOn the Black Crowes’ 2013 tour, founding sibling Rich Robinson radiated an unusual air of authority in contrast to his deferential persona of years past. And on his new album The Ceaseless Light there’s a similar air of confident dignity in the photos of him on the cover, but more importantly within the music inside this digi-pak.

The strength of leadership Robinson showed on stage last year pervades this record. He’s made the wise choice to work in the self-sufficient Applehead Studios in upstate New York, where recent Woodstock sessions were performed. However even more importantly, Robinson exhibits the musicianly wisdom to use a small core band for the project, including Marco Benevento on keyboards and Joe Magistrate on drums (with only a couple other sit-ins) to cut the dozen tracks.

Economy rules right from the beginning with the declaratory “I Know You,” a slinky Chuck Berry derived rocker Keith Richards will envy when he hears it. Robinson’s electric guitar is as  pointed as the acoustic instruments are lush on “Down the Road,” around which Benevento’s organ swirls colorfully as Magistro’s drums dance at the bottom. As “One Road Hill” suggests, Robinson doesn’t have much of a voice, but his astute addition of Amy Helm to harmonize more than compensates, as does the articulate exposition of the lyrics.

“This Unfortunate Show” features Katrine Ottosen singing on a cacophonous rocker that, like much of the material on the album, hearkens to vintage Black Crowes tunes. But the simplicity of the arrangements combined with the economical chemistry of the main musicians elevates the songs above easy comparisons; in fact, when the Crowes come off hiatus, they’d do well to integrate numbers like “Inside” into the stage repertoire (though they’ll be hard pressed to equal or surpass the potency in these recordings).

In stark contrast, however, is “I Have A Feeling,” a softly, swaying Latin-tinged semi-ballad where Robinson’s comfortably-voiced introspection has the clarity of an epiphany without betraying any sense of melodrama. “I Remember” is of a piece with that mood, though it’s so clearly rooted in r&b/soul styles that Chris Robinson would love to sing it: the elder sibling would do well to demonstrate the  laudable restraint his brother does here, but he probably wouldn’t be able to snap of the tart guitar licks that fly around at the finish.

This concluding track, “Obscure the Day,” acts as emphatic punctuation to its  fully-formed ambiance the likes of which, present from start to finish, usually only appears in truly great albums. If The Ceaseless Sight doesn’t sound quite like a work of that magnitude on early listening, it suggests strongly enough that it could rise to that level over the course of time. It’s certainly an artistic and personal statement of which Rich Robinson should be tremendously proud.

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