Although the modern folk circuit and contemporary Nashville country-rock have a lot of common heritage (the traditional old-time folk that came to the U.S. from the British Isles, bluegrass, the blues), the two can be worlds apart stylistically. And if one needs a demonstration of how striking the differences can be, just compare female vocal trio
Sometymes Why's Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine to albums by
the Dixie Chicks and
SHeDAISY (two female country-rock supergroups of the 1990s and 2000s). There are parallels, certainly;
Sometymes Why have attractive vocal harmonies, and so do
the Dixie Chicks and
SHeDAISY. But while
the Dixie Chicks and
SHeDAISY have used country-rock/country-pop as their starting point and have had their share of Nashville gloss and slickness along the way,
Sometymes Why have more of a folk-rock perspective (with strong alt-country and Americana leanings) and project a definite indie aesthetic. That indie aesthetic is alive and well on Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine, which never sounds the least bit corporate. This is a very earthy, organic-sounding album -- organic when it comes to production (
José Ayerve is the producer), organic when it comes to the often clever lyrics, organic when it comes to the sheer rootsiness of it all. That indie spirit prevails on original material as well as on an intriguing cover of the
Concrete Blonde-associated "Joey," and the fact that
Sometymes Why are rootsy doesn't mean that they play it safe. During the course of this 35-minute CD, they incorporate everything from bluegrass to jazz to rural blues. Some people will wish that the disc lasted longer than 35 minutes, but better to have a 35-minute CD that is solid than a 75-minute CD that is loaded with filler -- and the memorable Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine is both consistent and fairly risk-taking. ~ Alex Henderson