Pete and Maura Kennedy are back with another healthy dose of their signature brand of upbeat, spiritual folk-rock. Stand is their sixth CD since 1994, and their first for Koch.
The Kennedys' music is similar in tone to that of the late great Dave Carter, except that it leans closer to the electric jangle of The Byrds than Carter's acoustic folk approach. But thematically, it covers much of the same ground as Carter did with his partner Tracy Grammer: small-town life, life-as-spiritual-quest, open-eyed love and respect between the duo, and a solid grounding in American musical traditions. Not only that,a but Maura acts as webmaster as well for The Kennedys Web site.
Their best known song is the title track from their second release, 1995's Life is Large. The opening track here -- named for the couple's weekly folk radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio, "Dharma Cafe" -- has the same kind of crisp bounce, engagingly sunny vocals and optimistic lyrics. It's the jangly tale of a young free spirit singing at a coffee house, where "the mermaids dance all day / and the sirens sing where the dolphins play / down at the Dharma Cafe."
Several of the songs come at the idea of a spiritual quest from slightly different angles. The title track, "Stand," alludes to America's current national malaise and holds up love and spirituality as the answer, quoting briefly from Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready." "Pilgrim" is a cryptic meditation on the difficulty of seeking spiritual truth in a world filled with war and violence. "Raindrop" offers a gentle metaphor for the cycle of life. "Miracle Mile" paints a sparse portrait of a woman seeking wholeness, "crying in the night like an orphan child / looking for a star in the skies above her / where dreams can take hold, along the miracle mile." "Don't Hold Your Breath" is a dark blues on themes of growing up and being open to truth; Maura's sexy exhalation after each repetition of the title grounds the otherworldly lyrics in an earthy realism. And the album ends with an edifying cover of Carter's "When I Go," which invokes images from many spiritual traditions in a powerful poetic tumble of words: "Sigh mournful sister, whisper and turn / I will rattle like dry leaves when I go . . ."
It's not all lofty spirituality, though. "Ashes and Sand" paints a profane picture of a blues singer. "Dance Around in the Rain" uses the imagery of a gray day in Brooklyn as metaphor for life's bad times. "Easy People" is Nerissa Neilds' plea for solid domesticity with someone who's easy to be with. "Tupelo" pays tribute to the music, characters and activists of the American South. And "Anna and the Magic Gown" borrows sounds and imagery from English folk tales and music about Renard the fox.
The Kennedys are among the most dependable producers of contemporary folk music today, and Stand is a worthy addition to their catalog. The album bubbles over with songs of finely developed melodies and meaningful lyrics, lovingly played and recorded.
