Margo Price - "Strays II"
Yet another underwhelming Evermore Effect album
NOTE: Strays II was released with all ten tracks from the first album also included. Similarly to how I approached the second and third releases for The Smashing Pumpkins’ ATUM trilogy, I’ll only be considering the nine new tracks on Strays II.
Strays II follows on the heels of Strays, which released just ten months ago, in January.(FN: Strays was the first review I completed this year, and it rated a Green. Strays II is the 129th review of 2023.) Margo Price has stated that the songs for both albums were all recorded in the same sessions. And it shows.
Strays II is still largely the same blend of Alt Country, Roots Rock, Folk, and Americana as its predecessor, but with less… well, everything.
Okay, slight fib: it does have a more cohesive structure. The album consists of nine tracks, which form three acts with three songs each. And, in listening straight through, you can kinda get it. Across all three acts, the album portrays the downfall of a relationship (I swear, we’re seeing so many of these over the last few years — yesterday’s review for Blue October’s Spinning the Truth Around (Part II) was yet another, and I could probably list ten more from the last three years).
However, it’s only more cohesive because Strays really didn’t have any structure to speak of. With as many iterations of this concept as I’ve seen in the last few years, Strays II is one of the weakest executions. The songs do feel very personal, like they’re from Price’s personal experience, but the compositions and lyrics are bland and the album feels largely uninspired.
Opening and title track “Strays” is decent; “Malibu” is competent and quirky; “Black Wolf Blues” is a mournful hymnal with a bluesy twist (but it also really doesn’t fit the concept); and then album closer “Burn Whatever’s Left” is a Bond-esque thriller in which the speaker goes scorched-earth on her emotions. The final is easily the best track on the album.
Any other songs not mentioned here are, ultimately, not meaningful or not memorable. Strays II completely failed to impress.
Rating: Orange