Review Summary: That's Mom in the kitchen singing sweet by and by
With ‘Peculiar, Missouri’ being my introduction to Willi Carlisle’s brand of country music, I found a developing hype in my heart for what his next chapter would bring. ‘Critterland’ sort of just dropped without much fanfare to the point where I hadn’t even realized that it was released. Going in completely cold without hearing a single teaser sort of worked to my advantage as I was able to really judge this story with a sort of naivety and wonder that hearing snippets beforehand would have interrupted. Carlisle’s lyrics are vivacious like a picture-book with his words just calmly painting a wooded-landscape in a Bob Ross-esque way. There’s a simplicity to the language he uses while alluding and metaphorizing thoughts and concepts in ways that feel foreign especially in the scope of country music.
The opening track and namesake of the record immediately bounces you into an upbeat harmonica and banjo driven tune that introduces you into the world of 'Critterland'. It’s vocal quips and melody choices compliment Carlisle’s delivery with the chorus being especially catchy and memorable. I also love the verbosity of this song; so much content and context to find throughout with such a hurried delivery. The pace of this track immediately subsides with the sophomore track offering a more subdued, quiet acoustic guitar driven ballad. Lyrically and musically, this might be my favorite cut on this record. The emotional magnitude of Carlisle’s vocals in the chorus almost brings me tears with each word feeling like a dagger into my soul. The love for his mother coupled with such vivid storytelling and lyrical motifs is unmatched in modern day country music. With most of popular country music feeling vapid and surface level, Carlisle offers so much more with sincerity and love.
The record meanders between instrumentally sparse ballads, simple folk-driven bops and emotionally charged tearjerkers. Every song feels like an essential piece to populating 'Critterland' and defining its motives and feelings. “The Arrangements” feels like a bitter ode to an estranged father whose life was defined by alcoholism and abuse while feeling like a letter offered to the wind as closure. Carlisle immediately substantiates his feelings in the opening lines “He was dead inside my head long before he died/So making the arrangements felt natural, felt nice.” The track “I Want No Children” is simple in its message offering a desire to not have children and not continue his name with the staunch reasoning of lack of self-love and lack of desire to have control over someone. “When the Pills Wears Off” is a desperate and emotionally demanding listen describing the trials of drug abuse and those that Carlisle has lost due to addiction. Complimented by quiet pianos and lightly plucked acoustic guitars, this song feels like a warning, a love letter and an apology all wrapped up into a very powerful story. Each croon and each verse yearn for your attention to understand the severity of this disease and the mental turmoil that develops for everyone involved and around.
My only qualm with this record is some of the instrumentals do feel just a little bit too sparse especially on a track like “Two-Headed Lamb” which is almost entirely only driven by an accordion which in all honesty, is not my favorite instrument sonically. The monster of a final track clocking in at over 7 minutes is mostly spoken word with the occasional vocalization and is mainly backdropped by the dense pitter patter of rain. Only in the final minute is there some instrumentation and while ultimately, the story told is fascinating and enthralling, the overall feel and lack of musicality of the track leaves me desiring just a bit more.
With all that said, this record is a wonderful follow-up to “Peculiar, Missouri” with themes of love, loss, addiction, and sexuality continuing to play a vital role in Carlisle’s stories. Vocally, Carlisle’s delivery is dense, verbose and ultimately very warm while his lyrical prowess remains astute and honest. Having listened through this project about half a dozen times so far, I’m still finding little defining inflections and examples of wordplay that offer a sort of replay ability, little nuggets of gold in a diamond mine. If you loved any of his previous work, this should be right up your alley and if you’re interested in exploring country music, I highly recommend you give this a listen.
