 |  Overall Rating: 6.6 Lyrics: 5.0 Melodies: 7.3 Arrangements: 8.2 Thematicity: 7.4 Originality: 4.8 Production: 7.2 |
Ypsilanti's The Ragbirds released their first studio recording, Yes Nearby, last year, and while the band had only been together for roughly a year, the album revealed a competent ensemble comfortable with the sound they'd chosen for themselves (a fusion of afrobeat, Celtic music, fiddle-intensive folk, and reggae). The record also had its drawbacks: that sound is not a particularly unusual one, and furthermore one likely to be scoffed at in certain circles as "coffee-shop folk," but even their genre's most vocal detractors couldn't deny that the band members featured thereon weren't incredibly skilled, and what's more, incredibly tight. Undoubtedly The Ragbirds understood that these were their greatest strengths themselves, since the band attempted to capitalize on them on their second record by making that record a live recording. In theory, this ought to have captured the band's sponaneity and, if you will, synergy; in practice, Catching Fire doesn't live up to its name: the band certainly perform imaculately on it, but they also don't gain much of anything from doing it in a live context. In fact, they lose a bit in the production department, with the auxiliary percussion often buried beneath the rest of the mix and often only half-audible and the violin frequently too overpowering, and all in all, there really isn't that much of a difference between this record and its predecessor in terms of intensity or tone. That's not to say that the production is abysmal: it's actually fairly good for a live recording, but the Ragbirds really don't reap much from the experiment.
As far as the songs themselves are concerned (and it should be mentioned that they're all either new ones that didn't appear on Yes Nearby or reinterpretations of traditionals), they're slightly catchier than those on the band's last record, and they're all quite well arranged, but none of them are incredibly memorable. Furthermore, several of them are severely hampered by Erin Zindle's lyrics, which are frequently either trite rehashes of other singers' (most frequently Ani DiFranco's) social commentary, as on "Door in the Wall" and "Tipi Baya," or else just outright inane, as on "Ypsilanti Song." Honestly it's the band's lyrical posturing more than their folk-fusion sound that's likely to earn them derision as a stereotypical urban coffee-house act: first, because Zindle seems more intent on emulating both DiFranco's voice and her lyrical style (consider "Religion" exhibit A) than developing her own, and second, because it's evident both from the album's liner notes and it's overall lyrical content that the band take themselves a bit too seriously. Nevertheless, the band's finer qualities (their instrumental skill and strong, danceable rhythms) show through on a number of the tracks, including "Tarantella," whose concluding section is magnificent, the auxiliary percussion lines on "Onyame Kokoko," or the fiddle embellishments on "Harvest Song." Moments like these reveal just how good a band The Ragbirds could be if Zindle began to make her vocal style her own (which may be lacking, but shows a great deal more promise than Adam Labeaux's Dave Matthews impression on "Better") and put a bit more effort into her lyrics. As things stand, however, they do little on Catching Fire to rebut accusations of coffee-house banality, which is unfortunate, as there are a great many things about The Ragbirds' music that I genuinely like: I see shades of Canada and Nomo occasionally in their compositions, but only at ertian moments. In addition, the album also suffers from many of the usual problems that afflict concert recordings and reaps few of the usual benefits, and for that reason I hope the band returns to the studio for work on their third release.
-BT
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