Ron Sexsmith – The Vivian Line (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 33:16 minutes | 363 MB | Genre: Folk, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cooking Vinyl Limited

It’s not so much that Ron Sexsmith is underrated as just under-discovered. Although the Canadian singer-songwriter has duetted with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, won a Juno award, been produced by Steve Earle and Mitchell Froom, and been covered by Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris and Rod Stewart, he’s never really broken through in the US in the way he should have. But if you know you know—and if you don’t, it’s not too late to dive into Sexsmith’s 35-year catalog; The Vivian Line, his 18th album, is a great place to start. Picking up on a running theme in his career, there are clear nods to Ray Davies’ more sentimental, tender moments (“Flower Boxes,” the jaunty “Ever Wonder”) as well as The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society: “Country Mile” evokes that Britpop touchstone with a knowingly twee melody and strings-forward instrumentation, as well as the idea of pastoral beauty being a trap. “We could sit on the fence until the cows come home/ But life’s just passing by/ Doing our scarecrow dance beneath the great unknown/ All I’m asking is why,” Sexsmith croons. “A Barn Conversion,” meanwhile, is a smirking, jugband-ish lark about gentlemen farmers. Each honk and thump is crystalline; indeed, on the whole record, the mix is delightfully crisp. “What I Had in Mind” gently jangles as Sexsmith reckons with happily pursuing an artistic life when society expects conformity. (“Could never fall in line/ With the slave all day/ For minimum pay design.”) Its sweet-sounding companion, “Outdated and Antiquated” also marches to the beat of its own drum, with Sexsmith accepting how he “can’t seem to go with the flow, it don’t make sense/ I don’t fit in…But I’m relevant to myself.” “This, That, And the Other Thing” stands out with world-beat breeziness. “Place Called Love” is stripped-down chamber pop. “Diamond Wave” is upbeat, optimistic (“The sun was hiding under heavy cloud … but any doubts and second thoughts are gone”) and a little bit Jackson Browne. It all adds up to a pretty nice way to spend an afternoon. – Shelly Ridenour
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