Sarabeth Tucek GET WELL SOON. Sonic Cathedral. Released 11 April 2011

She was born in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Manhattan, New York before moving to Westfield, New Jersey as a teenager. She graduated from Westfield High School. She initially intended a career in acting, only starting to play guitar and write songs after meeting Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre. After moving to Los Angeles, she made her recording debut in 2003 as background vocalist on a Bill Callahan-produced  album, Goodbye Little Doll by EZT (aka Colin Michael Gagon), and on Callahan’s own album as (Smog), Supper. One of her earliest live performances featured in the 2004 rockumentary Dig!, which chronicled the relationship between the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. She also contributed material to Newcombe’s 2005 EP release, We Are the Radio. One of Sarabeth’s songs on that EP, “Seer,” would later be retitled and released in 2006 on the British label Sonic Cathedral Recordings as Tucek’s debut single, “Something for You”.

She recorded her debut album, SARABETH TUCEK in 2006, with producers Ethan Johns and Luther Russell. The album was released by The Echo Label in 2007. As well as touring solo and with a band, she has toured and performed as a support act with Ray Lamontagne, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Bob Dylan. Influenced by Dylan, Cat Stevens and Neil Young, her singing voice has been compared to Karen Carpenter and her style to Cat Power and Neil Young. In 2009, after moving from Los Angeles back to her hometown, Sarabeth released an early version of a new song, “The Doctor”, on the French label Wool and played some shows in that country. Following a break, she recorded her follow-up album GET WELL SOON outside of Philadelphia, once again with Luther Russell at the helm. She contributed several songs to the soundtrack of the film Shit Year, directed by Cam Archer, which went to the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

GET WELL SOON is a collection of twelve songs whose subject matter is the death of Tucek’s father. Tucek decribes the album as “an impressionistic rendering of a time ruled by grief.” The twelve tracks were “sequenced and resequenced for weeks” in order for the story to emerge and the end result is both economic and pure - sonically and emotionally. It is a beautiful and deeply moving record with the production skills of Ethan Johns and Luther Russell making major contributions to the record’s sound quality and immediacy which ultimately makes every vocal and instrumental note connect with the listener in the most profound way.

Tucek explained, “We recorded this record in a house where we also lived. My friends Robert and Peter from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club recorded HOWL there.” Russell added, “I think we managed to capture a unique mood down in that basement. As guests in someone’s home we got a feeling that might not have happened in a regular studio. Sarabeth wanted to be somewhere that was totally unfamiliar; the material was incredibly personal to her, so she had to feel right about where she did it. My job was to capture that feeling, and fast. The plan was to mix it in L.A., but it turned out that all the magic was there in the rough mixes I did as we went along - so that is what you hear. I think that is why it’s such an immediate record, because it really was completed in those two weeks… but with a lifetime of preparation of course.”

“It’s odd how placid a lot of music seems now; so washed out in sound and feeling. It’s like antidepressant music to take antidepressants to. I don’t give a shit. I’m more likely to buy a new book now than a new record” says Tucek. The record’s narrative ends with the title track and a resolution of sorts. “I feel like I’m either the patient or the doctor, somebody always has an ache,” she says. “When I wrote the title track I had a friend of mine on my mind. She was so sad… just inconsolable and it was painful to see her like that. The title is a reminder to keep myself well. It’s hard to explain the ferocity of the grief I experienced when my father died. I really felt like it was going to kill me, so to be here… well, I just wanted to remind myself of what I survived.”

In 2011, so far, I have yet to hear a record with such emotional involvement, sonic and musical integrity. It’s the reason why I have included the above background detail which (for a change) accurately matches what I am hearing and feeling. A brief introduction (’The Wound And The Bow’) leads straight into a startling and stunning ‘Wooden’ with its gorgeous, judiciously understated vocal (Adele could learn something from this) and momentous instrumental arrangement. ‘A View’ immediately follows sustaining the melodic and emotional magnetism while Tucek’s voice ups the expressive stakes. I must mention the production quality here which has the clarity and power of the finest analogue recording; that gives the impression that Tucek is performing live in your listening room; and connecting in the most substantial and intimate way.

It’s still early days in 2011 and who knows what musically is around the corner, but this record has to be an early and strong contender for album of the year. It’s that good…

5/5

Sarabeth Tucek is in the UK for a series of live dates.

Here’s the full list of dates:

April 30 . Camden Crawl (Earl Of Camden) . London
May 1 . Camden Crawl (Bull & Gate) . London
May 3 . Komedia . Brighton*
May 4 . Thekla . Bristol*
May 5 . Rescue Rooms . Nottingham*
May 6 . The Band Room . North Yorkshire
May 7 . Brudenell Social Club . Leeds*
May 8 . King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut . Glasgow*
May 9 . Band On The Wall . Manchester*
May 10 . Union Chapel . London*
May 13 . ULU . London**
May 14 . Truck Store . Oxford
May 15 . Buffalo Bar . Cardiff
May 16 . Café Oto . London***
May 17 . The Puzzle Hall Inn . West Yorkshire
May 18 . Prince Albert . Brighton****
May 19 . The Slaughtered Lamb . London
May 21 . Wood Festival . Oxfordshire

* With The Leisure Society
** With Engineers
*** With This Is The Kit
**** With David Thomas Broughton