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 Caught in the Carousel - "There will be music despite everything"
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Teddy Thompson
Bella
Verve
There's an argument to be made that the melodramatic sorrow of American country music—I'm talking about the "I've Got Tears in My Ears From Lying on My Back and Crying on My Pillow Over You" variety—has a peculiar resonance with the British psyche. Not a people afraid of embracing their inner gloom, the Brits have long coped by facing down adversity with bone-dry wit.
In that sense, Bella by British singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson, may be one of the finest American country albums of the year. Thompson is a folk artist by heredity—his parents are folk legends Richard and Linda Thompson—but a country singer by deliberation. This album, his fifth, marks the progression of his uncanny ability, already in full evidence on his last album, A Piece of What You Need to layer the upbeat rhythms and infectious refrains of pop music over the sorrowful country ethos of love lost, and wrap the whole thing up in self-deprecating humor.
Whether he's elucidating on a long list of questionable attributes for his perfect girl on "Looking For A Girl" or admitting that "Given choices A and B, I'd probably go with option C," in "The One I Can't Have," Thompson lets us know he's in on the joke to which we can't resist singing along.
Produced by David Kahne (The Strokes, Regina Spektor, and Sublime), Bella features lushly arranged strings to complement Thompson's guitar and vocal work, all backed by his touring band. Call him a folk singer, a country singer, a pop singer or some irresistible hybrid of all three. Just don't call Teddy Thompson a cockeyed optimist.
—Nancy Davis Kho
www.daviskho.com
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