Review Summary: A blend of country-pop and traditional rock n' roll which offers the genre from a slightly different angle.
The daughter of two famed country artists – Jason Sellers and Lee Ann Womack – Aubrie Sellers has never been content to ride on the coattails of her parents. Often in cases like this, she might become a child star – resting safely within the privilege of family pedigree with the quality of her artistry mattering for naught. Instead, Aubrie released her first album,
New City Blues, at age twenty-four to scant acclaim and now finds herself four years removed from that debut as still a largely unknown presence. Sellers’ sophomore effort,
Far From Home, feels like her first real statement: she stamps her own personality on a record that is burgeoning with traditional country influences, delicate folk-pop, and even a flare of garage-rock. It’s just different enough to stand out in a sea of genre uniformity.
Sellers immediately captures your attention with the sparkling acoustics of the opener/title track; a moment that feels both wistful and inviting as she sings “every dark dream fades to memory, in the warm, sweet light of day.” It thus comes as quite a surprise when ‘My Love Will Not Change’ immediately rips into gritty electric guitar riffs and an all-out stomp-beat, offering a glimpse of the addicting contrast this record offers on a consistent basis. That’s
Far From Home; a dynamic blend of glistening pop hooks and earthy, roots-bound rock. ‘Lucky Charm’ follows these two songs in what almost feels like a deliberate fusing of those styles – Sellers showcases her powerful vocal range with huge melodic hooks alongside distant electric guitar wails and a driving percussive presence. It’s Aubrie at her most representative: she’s a little bit country,
and a little bit rock n’ roll.
Sellers sounds her best when she treks paths that accentuate just how different she is from the hundreds of glamorous country-pop stars out there. Often it’s the little things that display that all-important gritty edge: the guitars that clamor like machinery in the distance on ‘Worried Mind’; the series of brief, screeching semi-solos that grace ‘Drag You Down’; the western-sounding synths that glide across the midsection of ‘Going Places’; the almost Sonic Youth-y dissonance of ‘Glad’. These are all things you won’t hear on most mainstream country records, which merely confirms the notion that Aubrie is not your typical country artist. Her persistence on the rock front makes the lush moments all the more impactful – the ambient, echoing strums of ‘Haven’t Even Kissed Me Yet’ feel like an oasis on the heels of some of the aforementioned scorchers , while allowing the lyrical repetition and sparkling guitars of ‘Run’ to sound like a lazy summer afternoon. At its heart though,
Far From Home is a rock album – which is evidenced by the way that Sellers circles back to it on the closer ‘One Town’s Trash’, which draws curtains with a nearly two-minute long guitar solo.
Far From Home is not without its weaknesses, notably a handful of pedestrian lyrical verses and genre clichés, and one gets the feeling that Sellers doesn’t
quite reach the outer limits that some of her creativity here hints at – but it’s nevertheless an impressive second outing for an underground country artist bursting at the seams with both artistic integrity and mainstream appeal. Her crossover potential is enormous – Aubrie Sellers has the ability to do well as country’s face of gritty, female-fronted rock. In a genre that lately seems to be ascending to much greater heights while also increasing its imaginative breadth, Sellers stands as a strong candidate to help lead country music’s modernization. Evolution in music is always multi-pronged: we have Sturgill Simpson practically crafting progressive country, Honey Harper launching it into the cosmos, and Kacey Musgraves perfecting the pop aesthetic. Aubrie Sellers hasn’t earned the right to join that company yet, but she’s knocking on the door with an electric guitar and an attitude. Don’t be surprised if she gets her foot in that door sooner rather than later.
