ALLISON MOORER - Crows  ALLISON MOORER

Crows

[Rykodisc]

For an artist whose career has been built on darkly gorgeous  hymns to melancholy, suddenly finding yourself happily married is an occupational hazard. Allison Moorer’s 2006 album Getting Somewhere found her working with new husband Steve Earle, and some measure of inspiration was lost between the earnest sunniness of the songs and Earle’s overbearing production stamp. Last year’s covers album Mockingbird was a lovely diversion, but Crows is an all-out return to sweetly dolorous form. Producer R.S. Field frames with delicate care a loose song cycle tracing the journey from solipsism (“Don’t expect a twirl, she’s not that kind of girl/She reserves the right to be sullen,” she jabs in “Just Another Fool”) to hard-earned hope. Moorer has always been a master at finding beauty in pain, but Crows makes clear that she also has a knack for finding pain in beauty. –CN

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