With equal appreciation for sea shanties and twanging banjos, Trailer
Bride's third album draws from a full well of American music. Country and
bluegrass provide a solid foundation for sharp portraits of drifters and
outlaws, broken hearts and hopeful dreams, but there's nothing formulaic
about this roots music. High Seas has more in common with the
Southern Gothic sensibility of the Geraldine Fibbers than many of Blooshot
Records' other neo-traditional country artists. The band's spotlight shines
on singer/lyricist Melissa Swingle, who also plays guitar, banjo, saw and
harmonica, backed ably by "the boys". Swingle's conversational phrasing
belies a whispering tonal darkness as she reels off lyrics that are equal parts humor and sentiment.
"Jesco" opens the album with a tale of Jesco White, an "outlaw ladies' man"
who just wants to dance. "The Ghost of Mae West" turns up to dispense some
advice, while "Run Rosie Run" gallops through a storm warning. The narrator
of "Under Your Spell" finds herself charmed in love "like a sailor that's
heard a mermaid call." Traditional instrumentation doesn't constrain the
band; effects pedals and layered guitar, plus that creepy saw, add
distinctive touches to an unpredictable sound. The short songs are
uniformly strong; if anything, they're too short, leaving us wondering what
happens to their characters when the lyrical storytelling ends.
Only the instrumental "Drift in D" seems extraneous, mainly because
Swingle's lyrics are the record's real high point. Memorable lines abound,
from the humor of "Itchin' for You"'s "It's like poison ivy under polyester
pants" to "Thankful Dirt"'s enigmatic "I know dust is just thankful dirt/And
your love is just thankful lust". The stately "Barcelona" nicks a line from
Bob Dylan while lamenting the "last soul I'll ever love/The last love I'll
ever lose". Straightforward without being simplistic, Swingle includes all of the right words and nothing more. While Swingle sings "Without love, every gesture is hollow" on the album-closing "Bird Feet Feelings", the carefully crafted High Seas suffers no such fate.
