MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY - RAY LAMONTAGNE - SUPERNOVA

Supernova should confuse a few fans, and delight lots more. Working with producer Dan Auerbach (Black Keys) for the first time, Lamontagne has penned a series of quite different numbers than his previous works, from fun and poppy to 60's-influenced pysch. Despite what he's been called in the past, I wouldn't call this a folk album.


There's an Auerbach haze over the whole thing, keeping some songs mysterious, others more upbeat, which feels like the sun poking through. The title cut is the most straight-ahead pop-rocker, with a big chorus, hand-claps and a glorious, positive message, "You're a blazing star, yea that's what you are." Pick Up A Gun is weary, dreamy, slightly murky like over-saturated tape, back when they only had four tracks and kept overdubbing and bouncing down generations. Smashing is the set's biggest head trip, with its I Am The Walrus feel over multiple sections. Closing cut Drive-In Movies sees him move into country rock territory, with lots of pedal steel, and wouldn't sound out of place on a Sadies album. It's the widest, and weirdest range of songs Lamontagne has yet recorded, and all the better for it.