Given the fact that the trio hadn’t until this point released an album since 2006, you may think that The Chicks as they’re now named, might have lost some of the edge and creative spark that made their last release Taking The Long Way such a (Grammy winning) smash. You’d be VERY wrong.
Gaslighter, as have many albums in recent months, found its original release pushed back as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, but if anything that just heightened people’s curiosity in the collection more than ever. Never a band to shy away from criticism or voice their views on issues that matter to them or others, the hype around this album is and has been very much worth it and the trio have once again delivered an album with plenty of stylish country-pop harmonies and honest, at times hard hitting and thought provoking lyrics.
Opening with the title track, the album gets off to a strong start. “Gaslighter” plays out very much like someone writing a letter to a truly awful ex – many listeners can no doubt and will find themselves acknowledging such a person being part of their lives at some point – and the repetition of the world “lie” all but begs, as do several other parts of the track, for a mass audience to chant-sing along with it.
As much as The Chicks can deliver a sing-along pop track or two, they’re also pretty damn good at the more balladesque/rip-your heart out ones too, as proven by “Everybody Loves You”, and “For Her”, about a relationship or bond with someone that just couldn’t or didn’t work, which has more of a half-folk, half-rock tone to it.
The Black Lives Matter movement has seen individuals, bands and artists everywhere join forces to call for equality and justice to those done wrong, and the many who have lost their lives as a result. The Chicks are one such band, and they make their cry for said justice on “March, March”, the video for which was released last month and features footage from a number of protests and lists names of the several individuals who have been victims of racial violence.
Well known now for being a trio never afraid to shock and surprise with their thoughts and opinions, musical or otherwise, “Tights On My Boat” will likely be remembered more for its opening lyric: “I hope you die peacefully in your sleep, just kidding, I hope it hurts like you hurt me”, than anything, but anyone who gives the track a listen (or several) might find themselves agreeing with the idea that the events and incidents mentioned in the track make such a comment more than deserved or justified.
The fantastic vocal performance of Maine and Maguire’s almost haunting, lingering violin make “Young Man” a highlight of the album, while there’s an air of identifiable resignation, and yet grit and determination, to the delivery of the lyrics in “Hope It’s Something Good” making the song perhaps in the eyes of many, a kind of anthem.
The band might have been pretty quiet musically for over a decade, but ‘Gaslighter’ more than proves that they still have plenty to say and the talent with which to say it, and that, while so many of their counterparts might have fallen by the wayside, The Chicks aren’t going anywhere. This collection is, it could be argued, easily a contender for album of the year.
