44

About

Many men in their forties grapple with the anxiety of aging and an ever-changing world by buying a sports car, going on an extended yoga retreat, or getting hair transplant surgery. Joel Plaskett dropped a <i>quadruple</i> album instead. One-upping his triple-LP set <i>Three</i> from 2009, <i>44</i> is an even bolder act of musical numerology: 44 largely autobiographical song, broken up into four 11-song chapter, released on the day before Plaskett’s 45th birthday. To help you make sense of this deluge of tune, each of the four records is loosely organized around a certain vibe—the welcoming, off-the-cuff roots reveries of the first set, the amplified rock crunch of the second, the more sonically adventurous country-rock spirituals and distorted blues blasts of the third, and the mellow folk comedown of the fourth act. But they’re all united by Plaskett’s signature mix of poignant, scenic storytelling and clever, self-referential wordplay. (As he sings on the rustic serenade “Fall Guy”: “If you’re looking for a quote/To use in your review/How about ‘I could use an editor before I mention you.’”) Where extended-album sets often encourage an experimental sprawl, Plaskett treats each of these songs as a means to further fine-tune his craft and produce timeless songs that can proudly stand alongside the great, be it the gospel-graced Stones-y ballad “If There’s Another Road” or the rollicking Springsteen-like character study “Tim” (a touching tribute to a departed old friend). .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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