Son Volt frontman Jay Farrar, whose pioneering work in Uncle Tupelo in the early 1990's (with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy) influenced a host of later artists, brushes his canvas with new colors on an impressive new effort, The Search.
Where Son Volt's previous album, Okemah and the Melody of Riot, thrived on mid-tempo acoustic rock, The Search's expansive vision covers new territory, starting with a modified supporting cast that includes Brad Rice (guitar) and Dave Bryson (drums) and Andrew Duplantis (bass) of the Meat Puppets. As usual, Farrar's nasal singing could use more engineering to stay on pitch, but its flat, effortless character is endearing.
Of the album's 14 final cuts - out of 22 that the sessions produced - the moody, piano-based "Adrenaline and Heresy" and the very punkish "Automatic Society" represent first-time experiments. Though the urgent, powerful guitar hooks on the title track and "Action" mimic Wilco's evolution from solidly alt-country to mainstream rock on Being There, Farrar seeks to extend Son Volt's sound in about a dozen other directions as well.
In this latest stage of Farrar's battle with Tweedy for alternative country supremacy, Farrar takes the lead.
