A logical extension of the “sophomore slump” is, if you’ll
\nforgive me running the metaphor into the ground, the “junior
\njitters.” In other words, you’ve put out one incredible album and
\none disappointing one; what the third one looks like is, in truth,
\na measure of the artist’s resiliency and staying power.<\/p>\n
Nickel Creek is a textbook example. No one can argue that the
\nband’s core of Sean and Sara Watkins and Chris Thile aren’t
\ntalented. The question is whether they could recover from a second
\nCD (
\nThis Side<\/i>) that, frankly, I thought was a bit underplayed,
\nforced and awkward. When
\nWhy Should The Fire Die?<\/i> arrived in my mailbox, I approached
\nit with an odd mix of anticipation and apprehension.<\/p>\n
Turns out I shouldn’t have worried.
\nFire<\/i> is a brilliant CD.<\/p>\n
First off, the bass is back. Tracks like “Can’t Complain” and
\n“Stumptown” have real thumping bass sound to them, courtesy of Mark
\nSchatz. Secondly, the production is clear and crisp, a definite
\nimprovement over
\nThis Side<\/i>‘s shallow and ephemeral sound.<\/p>\n
It’s the songwriting, though, that really takes this CD into the
\nrealms of greatness. Nickel Creek is branching out and taking
\nrisks, and it shows. At their core on tracks like “First And Last
\nWaltz” and “Doubting Thomas” their sound is still newgrass – but
\nsongs like “Best Of Luck” (with a driving acoustic guitar intro
\nthat wouldn’t be out of place on an alternative CD) and “Somebody
\nMore Like You” show them branching out into musical forms that are
\nalmost unquantifiable. The risks they take, the defiance of form,
\nis almost breathtaking in places.<\/p>\n
Then, of course, there’s “When In Rome.”<\/p>\n
I had complained in my review of This Side that there was no
\n“Reasons Why” on their second CD. (For those of you who have
\nsomehow missed it, “Reasons Why”, from Nickel Creek’s first
\nself-titled CD, is one of the greatest songs every written and has
\nmore hooks than a bass-fishing contest). Not so on
\nWhy Should The Fire Die?<\/i> — the CD had me from the opening
\ntrack, “When In Rome,” which is just a great damn song with soaring
\nharmonies and a driving, minor-key instrumental line.<\/p>\n
\nWhy Should The Fire Die?<\/i>, indeed. In fact, it hasn’t died,
\nit’s just gotten hotter and more intense. Nickel Creek has once
\nagain proven why they’re one of the more innovative and talented
\nmusical acts in America today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":27141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6448],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38481","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nickel-creek","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38481"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}