Flying Upside Down

Album Review

Griffin House offers up another platter of country-tinged fare on his fourth release, having improved his phrasing and intimate songwriting since 2004's Lost & Found. House knows that much of a singer/songwriter's appeal rests not only in the tunes themselves, but in their presentation, and some of Flying Upside Down's best numbers model their sound after the evocative, atmospheric arrangements of Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball. Leadoff track "Better than Love" is a fine example; with its sparse, cavernous percussion and interwoven guitar lines, the song is a model for intimate intensity. Elsewhere, House delivers straightforward country-rock with confidence, and tracks like "Live to Be Free" and "The Guy That Says Goodbye to You Is Out of His Mind" could be mistaken for B-sides from Ryan Adams' more twangy records. Where the songwriter falters, then, is in his lyrics, whose clear-cut nature often jars with the ambient instrumentation. Emmylou Harris' hauntingly ethereal voice glossed over such flubs in Wrecking Ball, but House's vocals are straight-laced, clear, and all too demonstrative of any lyrical shortcomings. A notable exception is "I Remember (It's Happening Again)," an anti-war ballad whose message and simplicity harkens back to the protest movements of the '60s. Here, House's phrasing is kinetic, and his words take strength in that sort of convinced cadence, even when the song enters some shaky political territory. "Religion is our best excuse for national defense," he sings, "and when our citizens start saying that our wars are not okay, Washington keeps telling them God loves the USA." This might be standard fare as far as protest songs go, but House's willingness to pepper a standard country song with some non-standard country ideals bodes well for his future work, particularly if he has more text like this in his lyric journal.