TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. Our rock critic, Ken Tucker, has been listening to some recently released music and has come up with three new songs that approach unhappiness and heartache in distinctive ways. Country singer Ella Langley, the Swedish dance music star Robyn and the singer-songwriter Allison Russell each have a take on sorrow and discontent that offer vivid, even inspiring music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHOOSIN' TEXAS")
ELLA LANGLEY: (Singing) Just when I thought I got him to fall in love with Tennessee. I should've known better than to take him back to Abilene. I put him right back into her arms. I wasn't a match for that kind of spark. She's from Texas. I can tell by the way he's two-stepping around the room. And judging by the smile that's written on his face, there's nothing I can do. It doesn't take a crystal ball to see a cowboy always finds a way to leave. Drinking Jack all by myself. He's choosing Texas, I can tell.
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: A few weeks ago, I reviewed the new Megan Moroney country album and mentioned that also surging in popularity is her colleague, Ella Langley. Well, now Langley's album, called "Dandelion," is out. And it's more varied and ambitious than I'd anticipated. It's common for someone early in her career to work variations on the songs that have made her successful. And "Choosin' Texas," the song that began this review, is more than successful.
It is, in fact, the longest-running No. 1 ever by a woman country artist on Billboard's Hot 100. But "Dandelion" demonstrates Langley's range in making pop ballads, bluegrass rave-ups and more. My favorite song on the album may be "Last Call For Us," a honky-tonk song that uses closing time at the honky-tonk as a metaphor for a romance that's about to end.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LAST CALL FOR US")
LANGLEY: (Singing) It's last call for us. The lights are coming on. I don't want to leave, but it's almost 3, and I think we both know that it's last call for us. It's a sad, sad tune. That after these drinks, you'll let go of me, and I'll let go of you. We ain't ever going to make this work. Let's close it out and go our separate ways. Soon as we go walking out that door, we ain't ever going to be the same. Ain't ever going to be the same. It's last call for us.
TUCKER: Ella Langley is at the start of her career. The singer Robyn is in the middle of hers, and she's chosen to build an album around that idea. She calls the collection "Sexistential," and its songs are about hard-won middle-aged wisdom and a weary impatience with partners less engaged or sincere than she. Performers ranging from Taylor Swift to Charli XCX have expressed their admiration for Robyn's way with vocals that twist around a pulsing rhythm and songwriting that injects emotional complexity into disco repetition. A prime example of this is "It Don't Mean A Thing." Robyn's jagged, distorted vocal helps convey the lyrics' disappointment in a love gone bad. Her bitterness bleeds into the beat.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT DON'T MEAN A THING")
ROBYN: (Singing) It don't mean a thing. It don't matter at all.
And also, can I just say something? I don't really go there anymore, but sometimes I think about how you used to make me crack up so hard I couldn't keep it together.
(Singing) When you were my baby, we went through every single position, and we talked about nothing that ever really mattered. I took care of you when you went design tripping. All I ever wanted was for you to get silly with me, baby. You cut my flowers. I loved you like sin. True love forever. Stupid forever. You want to keep it civilized. I'm not that Zen. But it don't matter. It don't mean a thing. It don't matter at all, at all. It don't mean a thing.
TUCKER: I've reviewed both of Allison Russell's albums, "The Returner" and "Outside Child," and it seems as though every time I hear something new by her, I want to immediately play it for everyone I know. That's certainly the case with her new single called "No Springtime." Russell sings this ballad with minimal instrumental accompaniment. The song builds on harmonies provided by fellow singer-songwriters Joy Oladokun and Julie Williams.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO SPRINGTIME")
ALLISON RUSSELL, JOY OLADOKUN AND JULIE WILLIAMS: (Singing) Three in the meadow and two by the lake. How many songbirds will it take to tell me so I still don't get it wrong? What's gone is gone is gone is gone. Five silhouettes on the telephone pole. One outside your bedroom window. You don't know what you thought you knew. There's no springtime in the blues.
TUCKER: This near-a cappella performance of "No Springtime" gets its power from the completion of the title phrase. There's no springtime in the blues, they sing, and it is indeed Russell's deep connection to the blues that takes its sadness to another level. Russell knows as well as Ella Langley and Robyn that sometimes fully felt unhappiness, free of self-pity or melodramatic exaggeration, can be as thrilling and uplifting as joy.
GROSS: Ken Tucker reviewed new music by Ella Langley, Robyn and Allison Russell. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram - @nprfreshair. And to get recommendations from our producers of what to watch, read and listen to, check out our free newsletter at whyy.org/freshair.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CISSY STRUT")
THE METERS: (Singing) Ah, yeah.
GROSS: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Sam Briger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Thea Chaloner directed today's show. Our co-host is Tonya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE METERS SONG, "CISSY STRUT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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