Jason Isbell is having a helluva year. HBO is home to the very good Isbell documentary, Running With Our Eyes Closed. He is set to appear in the Martin Scorsese movie Killers of the Flower Moon and he just released his new album with his band the 400 Unit, Weathervanes. The album opens immediately with Isbell’s voice on “Death Wish”. Eventually strings appear, piano twinkles with percussion bits. Another reviewer likened it to The Cure, this is an apt description – a country Robert Smith singing of loving someone suffering through depression.
That song is a departure from the rest of the album. “Cast Iron Skillet” has a bit of a twist on modern country with the line, “Don’t wash the cast iron skillet/Don’t drink and drive, you’ll spill it”. A warm acoustic guitar envelopes “Strawberry Girl” while “King of Oklahoma” tackles the hard luck story of a chap trying to stay afloat while thinking, “never thought I’d wind up this far behind”. Isbell lets his voice soar on “Middle of the Morning”. The lockdown track inspired by his personal experience is a good one where he makes the claim that “I’m tired of living in the moment and sleeping through the dream”. An adult remembering that he wanted to be a spaceman.
Isbell’s musical gift is making smart lyrical choices. Two of the standouts see him thinking about far bigger issues than the usual hunting/fishing/drinking songs that fill modern country radio. “Save The World” immediately ups the intensity on a track about a school shooting in Nashville and how to process what that means for the country and his family. “White Beretta” tells the story of Isbell driving his girlfriend to the abortion clinic back in the late 90s. Not sure if they are making the right decision, he let the girl make the decision regardless of his mental struggles.
Jason Isbell’s music on Weathervanes expands the palette and also pulls it back into familiar country territory. There are bits of keyboard, atmospheric moments, and several times where he adds 80s rock into the mix. But it still goes back to the stories he tells on songs like “Volunteer” that tells of a boy being raised by parents who were just kids. He doesn’t always hit those heights but there are enough great moments on Weathervanes where Isbell reaches for being one of America’s great storytellers.
8/10
The Light Appears 