Written by: Dave Cantrell
Etymologically speaking, improvisation and exactitude occupy opposing ends of the spectrum, one a willful, madly un-risk averse adventurer with a glimmer of wildfire in their eyes, the other exuding a prim, bow-tied decorum best suited for the corridors of accountancy and audits. In the arts, however, and most notably of course in music, the two can often find themselves in daring alliance, locked in a kind symbiotic dance that, due most likely to that intrinsically contrasting dynamic, can often leave us dazzled if not infrequently breathless. With that, welcome to the new Karen Haglof album One Hand Up, self-released June 14th.
A guitarist, singer and songwriter that seems intent on not only not being bound by that nominal, however accurate description but as well from being pigeon-holed in any particular genre, Haglof’s latest, if only by implication, could be perceived as a reflection of sorts of that path that led her to becoming what one might call ‘an artist of many adjectives’ (none of which is to mention, by the way, the rather extraordinary fact that, for thirty-plus years between her work with groundbreaking outfits The Rhys Chatham Ensemble and Band of Susans and her recording return in 2014 with Western Holiday, she dropped music, picked up a medical degree – ! – and worked in the hematology/oncology department at NYU Hospital from which she just retired last year).
From the beguiling, personal, damn near avant country romp of the opening title track, rich with sublty applied effects not least a fair amount of reverb echoing through the halls as if to evoke a haunting from the past to the snaky phat throb of instrumental “Rte 66 Revisited” that closes this record thirteen tracks later like some kind of funk demon prowling out the door, One Hand Up is an enticement, a gambol, a salmagundi of enchantments mixed with sure-handed production (Haglof with band member/fellow guitarist Mario Viele) and flat-out ace musicianship. It is, in short, a veritable soundtrack to the love story between joy and intensity.
There’s “24-Hour Prayer Q-Beat” that brings that swampy urban blues vibe and begins with the none-more-universal line ‘Happiness come find me now/I can’t chase you down,’ “Club 2121” that could almost be mistaken for an obscure Isleys cover what with its Erniesque disco touch tripping across the delicately-strobed, futuristic landscape, “D.H.Y.B”‘s seductive heaviosity that manages to meld a honking three-saxophone phonk to a chunky guitar riff rhythm, the half hijink/half heartfelt (those proportions might be a tad off), presumably Covid-related “Girl vs. Guitar” with its clever lyrical jabs such as ‘gone so long, reach the ground/shutown, bad actors and casual idiots‘ and that’s not the, um, half of it. Oh, wait, there’s also the three Mitch Easter-mixed tracks that unsurprisingly merit mention:
Moody, fetching, fully immersive, “Slinky 66,” with its slyly rendered, slightly offhand lyrics (‘later dark, automated coffee, steaming cold‘ and why in hell have I never thought of that ‘steaming cold’ line before?), Haglof’s bold almost brassy guitar tone and, very much not least, CP Roth’s jazz-accentuated stick work, captures like some intoxicating mix of lounge and psych-pop, “Day 34” that carries a full-on wall-of-soundish dynamic that despites its sonic assault is one of One Hand Up‘s most nuanced tracks while the unsuspectingly complex “B.Q.E,” on the other hand, rides a loping seductive mid-Wyoming dude ranch rhythm smack into an unleashed guitar breakdown that more than upholds Haglof’s ‘let’s go!‘ come-on that prefaces it before the whole thing offramps off the Brooklyn-Queensway Expressway (for it is that) into a sunset no other artist we can think of could paint with such (seemingly) effortless conviction.
A triumph, then, you ask? Hell damn yes, we reply and not simply due its (substantial) musical merits alone but as well, if not more so, the kind of stylistic adventurousness that, again, Haglof and crew have carried off without a hitch. Nothing really sounds like – and therefore compares to – a Karen Haglof album and the unique quality of sound it brings to every release and, really, how few artists are there about which once could say that? Exactly.
