Bruce Hornsby’s new, reflective album begins off sweetly and melodically, a musician trying again at an enchanting life. Then it will get bizarre. That’s by design.
āIām going along very nicely and then I might just throw something at you,ā the three-time Grammy Award-winner warns from his dwelling in Williamsburg, Virginia. āIām well aware that a whole lot of my old-time fans just hate that.ā
āIndigo Park,ā a 10-song set that arrived Friday, is an idea album of kinds as Hornsby mulls over his childhood and the place he is come from. To borrow a line from one track, it is āone life in reflection.ā
The album ā which options appearances from Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, Bonnie Raitt and Bob Weir, his late Grateful Dead bandmate ā is a darkly comedian assortment that handles recollections with soulfulness ā and a few quirks.
Hornsby, who got here out of the gates swinging with the socially aware hit āThe Way It Isā in 1986, is aware of which songs could journey up the typical listener as of late ā Nos. 3, 6 and 9, which might be āEntropy Here (Rust in Peace),ā āAlabamaā and āMight As Well Be Me, Florinda.ā They’re, in a phrase, difficult, with dissonant and sophisticated time signatures.
āLook, I love simple music. Thereās simple songs on this,ā he says. āBut I also love complexity. And Iām interested sometimes in making a sound I havenāt heard before.ā
āIndigo Parkā captures Hornsbyās stressed musical creativity and love of language. Not many pop albums as of late causally drop the phrases āpriapicā or ātumescentā or make reference to mathās Fibonacci sequence.
āThis is just a window into my goofy world,ā he says, explaining that the Hornsby family loves humorous phrases and a little bit of wordplay, with perhaps dad telling considered one of his sons heās trying āa bit concupiscent, pal.ā
Hornsby calls himself an āinveterate readerā and lots of of his songs have been impressed by literary fiction, like 2019ās āWhite Noiseā which was a nod to David Foster Wallaceās novel āThe Pale King.ā āI guess you could really just call me, simply in one word, a snob.ā
On one new track, āSilhouette Shadows,ā Hornsby references studying concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy over the college intercom. He was a 3rd grader in a small, conservative Southern city, and all of the sudden, his classmates began celebrating, hoping Richard Nixon would possibly take over.
āI was really alarmed and confused/Watching the children parroting parentās views,ā Hornsby sings. āAncient scenes and cryptic dreams.ā
The trackās music was impressed by a fugue by classical composer Dmitri Shostakovich that he had written for a Spike Lee challenge, however the filmmaker by no means used it. So Hornsby took it again: āThat was me trying to make a sound I hadnāt heard before.ā
Another track ā āEcstatic,ā which options Bonnie Raitt on vocals ā feels like light-hearted playground banter, and it form of is. It comes from the basketball chants Hornsby heard from mother and father as his older son, Keith, competed on the basketball courtroom for Louisiana State University.
āYou fouled, you did it, raise your hand admit it/Thatās right, you fouled, you did it, raise your hand admit it,ā go the lyrics. āThatās right, you walked, you traveled and got caught.ā
āIndigo Parkā marks the fifth-straight album Hornsby has tapped guitarist Gibb Droll and the musician says it provides listeners a peek into the inside lifetime of the singer-songwriter.
āItās more personal. I think his fans will feel like theyāre getting a glimpse of the man and what he thinks about,ā says Droll, who performs on 5 tracks.
As for the weirder songs, the guitarist says that is a part of the Hornsby expertise. āI donāt know of anyone that has continued to push the boundaries the way he does,ā Droll says.
āIf itās truly art, it should challenge you at some point. The listener should be challenged to feel āDo I like this? I donāt know. Oh my God, I think I love it.ā And then by the eighth time, hopefully, youāre looking forward to those little weird nooks and crannies.ā Droll says.
Hornsby, who performs accordion, dulcimer and piano on the gathering, picked an Edward Hopper print ā āNight Shadows,ā a duplicate of which he owns ā because the album cowl. It depicts a person alone on a darkish road.
āI thought, well, this could be called my aging record. When youāre about gone or ready to be gone you realize youāre alone, man,ā he says. āI see this lone guy walking around. I thought thatās me right now. It spoke to me in that way. So, I used it.ā
āIndigo Parkā comes 40 years after the one and album āThe Way It Is,ā Hornsby’s debut. In the years since, he has been inconceivable to categorize, having songs scattered throughout nation, grownup up to date, rock, jazz, bluegrass and people charts. He’s performed with the Grateful Dead and everybody from Bob Dylan to Chaka Khan.
He laughs that the songs maintain up from that early time, however he would possibly fireplace the frontman. āIām not a fan of that singer. I guess Iād call myself a slow learner in that way. Itās gotten better through the years, at least to me.ā
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