Continuing in the subdued, stripped-down direction he began with his 2008 solo debut
Seeing Things
,
Jakob Dylan
nevertheless achieves a cinematic resonance on his second record, 2010's
Women + Country
. Surely, part of this is down to
Dylan
swapping
Rick Rubin
, who has made starkness almost a fetish, for the analog impressionism of
T-Bone Burnett
, who previously worked with the singer/songwriter on the
Wallflowers
1996 breakthrough album
Bringing Down the Horse
.
has little to do with the sturdy, sinewy, straight-ahead rock of
: it's dreamy and airy, slipping in and out of focus, rootsy without being earthy. Horns swoon and stumble in the background, a string bass thumps time,
Marc Ribot
gently punctures the murk with his gnarled guitar, while
Neko Case
and
Kelly Hogan
add warmth with their harmonies, all creating a hazy glaze that augments with
Dylan'
s dry, unfussy songs. These seemingly conflicting extremes don't result in a dissonant disconnect, but rather a subtle richness: the spareness of the songs lend themselves to these layered arrangements which in turn draw attention to
's tight, clean writing. Naturally, this means that
is somewhat of a grower -- it's so purposefully hazy it seems to pleasingly fade into the slipstream upon the first play, but those repeated spins reveal the deep craft at the heart of
, deep craft from both the songwriter, his producer, and musicians. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine