Casey Meehan
Violet (Tense Forms)
The mood is heavy with remorse, melancholy and ennui. New Orleans songwriter and singer Casey Meehan has recorded an album startling in its originality at a time when originality has largely run dry. Much of the music has the snaky meter of a rock rhythm section led by baritone sax and clarinet—an unusual lineup that occasionally suggests Morphine. The unconventionally orchestrated music also features violin and trumpet on twisty, shifting melodies that conjure up klezmer (“Every Star That Shines”), dreamy film soundtracks (“Via Deception”), the Doors (“Do Right”) and Leonard Cohen (“Amateur Drunks”).
—Dave Luhrssen