Ken Pomeroy Cruel Joke
Coyotes are all over Ken Pomeroy’s latest album. Not the way they’re all over so many of America’s suburbs, a symbol of how we’ve managed to foul up the environment and drive nature’s creatures from their natural home. On Cruel Joke (the singer-songwriter’s first release for Rounder Records), the canines (along with sheep and wolves, horses and stray dogs) serve as stand-ins for the ways we manage to mess up our own, personal environments, one hurt at a time.
Pomeroy leads off Cruel Joke with “Pareidolia,” a mid-tempo rambler that opens with the destruction of a dream – “tell me what you see/Envisioned you lying in the debris – until all that remains is a sort of angry resignation, repeated several times by the singer: “I guess a cruel joke is all we can afford.” The term “pareidolia” refers to the brain seeing patterns in randomness, and the songwriter in Pomeroy sees the same, desolate results from different people’s seemingly disparate actions. “Stranger” is a solo, acoustic tune that illustrates where that cycle of hurt often begins – “The wind keeps on hitting me like my mother used to/Unlike her, I feel like it doesn’t want to.” These hurts can linger long into adulthood, roiling inside for decades – “Driving home from a studio that’s unfamiliar/I just cried in front of friends and a stranger/I’m the stranger/Because I haven’t cried in front of myself/Let alone someone else.”
Pomeroy doesn’t let herself off the hook – she sees her own dubious contribution to the pattern. “Flannel Cowboy” has the singer (unintentionally, but not unknowingly) dishing out the hurt. The moody tune, guided along by co-producer Dakota McDaniel’s subtle pedal steel, has her acknowledging the self-caused wreckage from its opening lines – “I broke you like a mirror into pieces/A few of me staring back in disbelief.” And the record’s centerpiece, “Coyote,” featuring a well-timed guest spot from the very in-the-news John Moreland, doubles up on the pedal steel (this time, it’s Chris Scruggs and Muskrat Jones), warns of Pomeroy’s sharp, self-defensive habit – “I know I’m the coyote/I bite just ‘cause I’m scared.” But Pomeroy’s songs aren’t without a bit of rugged tenderness, particularly in “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothes.” The singer refers to it as the first love song she’s written, and it still contains a sharp edge, even while expressing affection – “The way I look at you is different from the glare I’d give to anybody else.” But Pomeroy also expresses a wish to change that pattern of hurt – “I’d sacrifice my life or go back to high school just to dance with you.” Sadly, we can’t go back and prevent those hurts – admitting them and repairing the damage is the best we can hope to do.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Flannel Cowboy” – A cross between confessional and come-on, both haunting and sexy, it’s the kind of song made for a dark, grungy dive.
Cruel Joke was produced and recorded by Gary Paczosa, Dakota McDaniel and Colton Jean, mixed by Paczosa and mastered by Paul Blakemore. All songs written by McKenan Dawn Pomeroy. Musicians on the album include Pomeroy (lead and harmony vocals, acoustic guitar), McDaniel (bass, pedal steel, banjo, mandocello, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, cello), Jean (drums, percussion, Mellotron, keys, effects), Paczosa (bass drum), Kyle Reid (pedal steel), Jedd Hughes (electric guitar), John Moreland (vocals), Chris Scruggs (pedal steel, baritone guitar), Muskrat Jones (pedal steel), Chad Copelin (bass), Jacob Sciba (additional engineering), Michael Rose (bass), Conrad Choucourn (drums), Kym Warner (mandolin) and Matt Magerkurth (cello),
Go here to order Cruel Joke (out May 16): https://rounder.com/collections/ken-pomeroy.
Check out tour dates here: https://kenpomeroymusic.com/#tour
Find our previous coverage here: Show Review: American Aquarium with Ken Pomeroy in Little Rock