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Gossip in the Grain is LaMontagne's most adventurous recording, yet in many ways it's also the most focused and well executed.
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Gossip finds the perfect balance between his raw emotional pull, singed in the soft sway of 'Let It Be Me' and on desperate ballad 'Winter Birds,' with Ethan Johns' deftly layered production and arrangements.
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While there's not a bad one in the bunch, once you've heard LaMontagne loosen up, you're left starving for more of it.
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The intense and intensely bearded Maine singer-songwriter showcases a lighter side on his superbly crafted third disc.
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On Gossip in the Grain, he slides effortlessly between horn-inflected R&B and hushed Nick Drake-like folk, with stops in between for string-band country, flute-flavored chamber pop, and harmonica-stoked blues.
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His voice proves his best instrument, which doesn’t make him any different from other earnest strummers out there. It does, however, invest these songs with a distinctively twilit poignancy.
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Now we get Gossip in the Grain, the artist’s most cohesive, career-defining album to date.
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Q MagazineIt might alienate those who prefer him to wallow, but there's magic and bravery here. [Dec 2008, p.130]
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Gossip in the Grain clearly shows he can do more than the typical singer-songwriter navel gazing.
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While ['You Are The Best Thing'] gets the LP off to a rousing start, the song also serves a thematic purpose by celebrating the pleasures and synergy of a smoothly functioning conjugal unit--an ideal that stands in stark contrast to the romantic torment that follows.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 20
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Mixed: 1 out of 20
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Negative: 4 out of 20
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Apr 20, 2012
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ScottFNov 28, 2008
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SarahOct 21, 2008Another winner from Ray!