Audio CD review:
Ray Lamontagne - Till the Sun Turns Black

Ray Lamontagne - Till the Sun Turns Black

Band: Ray Lamontagne Title: Till the Sun Turns Black Rating: Release Date: 26 December, 2006 Media: Audio CD Tracks:

Customer Review Melancholy Beauty Ray is not a cheerful or sunny soul (you must have gotten a hint of that from the title, no?). Till The Sun Turns Black is the second terrific album by singer/songwriter Ray LaMontagne, whose first wonderful album, was Trouble (2004). Rather, like Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Kelly Joe Phelps, he mostly mines the caves of sadness, loss, weariness, lassitude, and sorrow. He sings in a hushed and plaintive voice which is like the far off sounds of a train, mournful and distant. Don't get me wrong, Ray is wonderful to hear, just don't spin this disc if you are already feeling a bit, shall we say, desperate. Or then again, maybe you should. Just maybe his own wretched misery would be enough to make you say, "Hey, at least I don't feel THAT bad. " But joking, aside, this album, despite being slightly tarnished by too much fancy strings and orchestral sounding background, has some truly stellar gems. The song "Empty" is sheer poetry: "lay your blouse across the chair, let fall the flowers from your hair and kiss me with that country mouth, so plain. outside, the rain is tapping on the leaves, to me it sounds like they're applauding us the quiet love we made. will i always feel this way? so empty, so estranged" Buy the album for "Empty" but stay and listen to the whole thing. It is well worth it. Thank you Mr. LaMontagne. . . You can see a complete list of all Ray Lamontagne discography, or go back to the Ray Lamontagne tabs