For the album's heart, though, Lombard and Connor settle into comfortable territory. "Better Days" is a great complement to the first album's "Long Drive Home from Baltimore," with Connor getting out of the gate alongside slide guitar by trying to leave broken love, and "the next flight out is Tuesday night/I get my things and be polite ... didn't want to follow you." Under three minutes, it's a postcard of cautious optimism. Lombard, accompanied by an alternating organ, believes there will be better days, but Connor is "so scared of what my dreams say."
"Barrel" is further stripped, a simple ballad that gets downright Calexico (à la their "Going to Acapulco" cover on the I'm Not There soundtrack) in the finish as Lombard and Connor are personified by a trumpet and violin that wander off into a setting sun and fade to black. The lyrics here are among the album's best, acknowledgeing the listener's desire for the two voices to make like a short film: "We laughed about all the of the inside things/We talked all night, till someone would drift to sleep/Are you awake my dear?" At 3:40, it's too short.
As is the album. The eight songs here make for a crisp package, but with the arrangements and production lending such a different feel to the band, I'd have liked to hear a couple new takes on the first set of songs, especially "Two and One." Maybe as a bonus hidden track or something.
But it's good to be kept wanting, and there certainly aren't any throwaways here. "Madeline" is Connor's best vocal turn, rising up in the register as his emotion carries him, and the trumpet-guitar handoff of the melody in the bridge is terrific. The Aimee Mann cover "Coming up Close" has Lombard more reserved, dispelling any worry she might be becoming a bit of a yeller: "We thought for once we really knew what was important." And "The Last Song" has her doing pure pretty, crisp like Christine McVie doing "Over My Head."
There's talk of dueling solo albums and Connor is known as a prodigious songwriter, so don't think this will have to tide you over for too long. If anything, it is just a taste of things to come.
Sam Pfeifle can be reached at sam_pfeifle@yahoo.com.
GRACE
Released by Gypsy Tailwind | with Will Dailey and the Rivals + Grant Street Orchestra | June 20 @ 8 pm | at the Port City Music Hall, in Portland | www.gypsytailwind.net
