Singer/songwriter Miranda Lambert’s fifth album, Platinum, is heavy on good-time country rock and sassy lyrics.
Lambert’s songs are tasteful snippets of energetic bar rock full of redneck chic.
The first contender for singe status, Automatic, is commercially appealing and serious but lacks the earthy humour and unpredictable arrangement of the other material.
She belts like a hillbilly queen on Bathroom Sink and boasts about her edgy ways on Little Red Wagon. Both songs owe more to guitar-driven rock than contemporary country and follow the style Lambert favours in her side band, The Pistol Annies.
Platinum is a loud volume summer party album thanks to Lambert’s rocking songs and declamatory, clear-as-a-bell voice. Her image as a naughty girl with fun lovin’ ways is enhanced with kick-ass lyrics that are clever.
“What doesn’t kill you only makes you blonder/Something ‘bout platinum irrefutably/Looks as good on records as it does on me (Platinum).”
Or as the blunt Old Sh#t puts it rather succinctly: “If it’s out of style, it drives me wild/I’m a fan of it, old sh#t!”
Somethin’ Bad, a duet with Carrie Underwood, is predictable party girl fare but Lambert and Underwood bring enough energy to elevate the track above its four-on-the-floor anchor.
Lambert’s departures from amped up country-rock partyin’ is notable. Her reading of the R&B flavoured Holding On to You highlights her talent for ballads.
Smokin’ and Drinkin’ is an oddball track, a summery meditation on a time honoured pastime that comes across as serious observation, all over a synth and acoustic guitar-driven rhythm that sounds like an escapee from a ‘70s soft rock compilation. It works and stands out strong on an album of good time southern country rock.
Platinum puts Miranda Lambert on different territory and moves her position high among rock influenced country singers.
– Dean Gordon-Smith is a Vernon-based musician who writes about new releases in his column, Street Sounds, every Friday.
