Review Summary: Another fantastic release of emotive folk from Paul Baribeau.
It's often assumed that when an artist finally decides to push the production value of their music, they've 'sold out'. It's a disheartening experience most of us have probably been through; having to see the emotion and fervor of a band you love get drowned in production. Paul Baribeau, however, is an exception to this rule. Unbearable may be more fleshed out than much of his earlier work, but ultimately it does not disappoint.
Paul Baribeau's third LP takes a rather large leap from the raw quality of his first two releases, especially in terms of instrumentation and production. Yet somehow, Unbearable manages to retain most of the passion that Paul displayed in Grand Ledge and his self-titled release. The key to Paul Baribeau's success at being able to increase production and still be emotionally charged is the fact that his appeal was never based on how well he played the guitar or sang, but rather on what he was trying to convey. Frantic guitar playing and a scratchy voice characterized Paul’s first two releases, but the imperfections were overlooked because of his ability to invoke such a wide array of feelings through his lyrics. And now with this more produced release, we’re exposed to refined side of Paul without having to lose too much of the emotion.
There’s no doubt that a certain element of Paul Baribeau’s raw performance style from Grand Ledge and Paul Baribeau is lost in his third album. In terms of songwriting especially, it seems that Unbearable falters slightly in comparison to Grand Ledge. For the most part, the lyrics are classic Baribeau, but there’s an element of roughness that seems to be missing. There’s a lot more rhyming in this album, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it takes away from the uniqueness of Paul’s much more spontaneous style of previous releases. However, there are still moments where the man’s writing shines through. Lines like, ‘Give me all your, all your reckless kisses. Give me all your, all your sleepless nights’ still have that undeniable Baribeau feeling to them. If anything, his change in style has made his music more accessible, which was definitely something that was lacking in his first two efforts.
Unbearable may be a change from the Paul Baribeau we’ve become accustomed to, but it’s a direction that shows promise.
