H.C. McEntire - Every Acre
by Zena Grieg
published: 26 / 5 / 2023
Label:
Merge Records
Format: CD
intro
Melancholic but ultimately hopeful folk-pop on third solo album from North Carolina singer-songwriter H.C. McEntire
The third solo album by North Carolina singer-songwriter H.C. McEntire, written and recorded on Native American Lands, is a languid collection of meditative, sad but hopeful folk-pop songs with a solid guitar base. Circling around a backdrop of solitude, perseverance and the transitory nature of existence, the songs are carried by an incessant search for meaning. The mood is at times bleak, unremitting in its expression of vulnerability, the musician engaging the listener in a disquieting confrontation with existential themes in a landscape of striking imagery. Songs to listen out for in this nine–track collection include: the opener, the restrained love song plus, ‘New River View’ with its references to contemporary writers and elliptical lyrics: “Bend me and break me/Split me right in two/Mend me and make me/I’ll take more of you/In the high hunter’s moon”; a duet with Kentucky singer-songwriter S.G. Goodman, the bluesy ‘Shadows’ with its accompanying, evocative video; the atmospheric slow-burner rock ‘Turpentine’ with its lengthy guitar solo, navigating a long tortured journey with the stark reality of loss at the end; the country, gospel-tinged piano ballad ‘Dovetail’ with its poetic depiction of the array of different women she has known, women who “Eat only after they pray…/Chase their whiskey with wine…/Not all will want to have their hands tied/And some will never want you gone”; and the sombre ‘Rows of Clover’, burying a “steadfast hound”, with its hypnotic chorus: “It ain’t the easy kind of healing/When you’re down on your knees clawing at the garden”. This is an eclectic album with a fierce and proud sense of place, the words and sounds reverberating beyond the final track.
Track Listing:-
1 New View2 Shadows (feat. S.G. Goodman)
3 Turpentine (feat. Amy Ray)
4 Dovetail
5 Rows of Clover
6 Big Love
7 Soft Crook
8 Wild for the King
9 Gospel of a Certain Kind
Band Links:-
https://www.hcmcentire.com/https://www.facebook.com/HCMcEntireNC/
https://twitter.com/HCMcEntire
Label Links:-
http://www.mergerecords.com/https://www.facebook.com/Merge-Records-88476979019/timeline/
https://twitter.com/mergerecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/mergerecords
Play in YouTube:-
Have a Listen:-
bandcamp
soundcloud
most viewed articles
current edition
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities - #15- On Being Dignified and Old aka Ten Tips From Jah Wobble On How To Be Happy.The Church - Interview with Steve Kilbey
Simon Heavisides - Destiny Stopped Screaming: The Life and Times of Adrian Borland
Secret Shine - Interview
Vetchinsky Settings - Interview
Repomen - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Flaming Stars - Interview
Near Jazz Experience - Interview
Jack Roscoe - Interview
Sami Sumner - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Kula Shaker - Natural MagickIan Hunter - Defiance Part 2: Fiction
Lewis 'Burner' Pugh - Bullets for Bread
Inutili - A Love Supreme
Hillbilly Moon Explosion - Back in Time
My Life Story - Loving You is Killing Me
David Cross Band - Ice Blue Silver Sky
Beyonce - Cowboy Carter
Smalltown Tigers - Crush On You
Ty Segall - Three Bells
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart