Sep 04 2008
Ron Sexsmith - Exit Strategy Of The Soul
- Artist: Ron Sexsmith
- Album: Exit Strategy Of The Soul
- Label: Yep Roc
- Release: 2008
- Links: Official Site, MySpace
Seeing Ron Sexsmith live and listening to him on record is a very different experience. In person, the intent of Sexsmith’s music shines clearly. On record, more often than not, the power of Sexsmith’s songwriting fails to be established due to spotty production. His last effort, 2006’s Time Being, was different though. That album found Sexsmith working again with producer Mitchell Froom, who many have cited as a perfect match for his music. I am not familiar with Sexsmith’s early work with Froom, but I was certainly impressed with Time Being and felt that it contained many of Sexsmith’s best compositions to date. Unfortunately, Froom is nowhere to be found on Exile Strategy Of The Soul, Sexsmith’s tenth full length release, an album that doesn’t utilize his strengths.
Exit Strategy, was produced by Martin Terefe, who also worked with Sexsmith on 2002’s Cobblestone Runway. I wasn’t fond of the production on that album either. The production on Exit Strategy is too hollow and so is the horn section that appears on many of the tracks. It just feels like a bad match for Sexsmith’s songwriting. It would be unfair to place full blame on production though. There are superb moments on Exit Strategy, but it simply isn’t Sexsmith’s strongest collection of songs, especially in comparison to Time Being. Notable exceptions include “Ghost Of A Chance” and the utterly perfect “Brandy Alexander,” which was co-written with Feist. There are just too many songs that lack the emotional impression that Sexsmith is capable of making. The album does begin and end beautifully with “Spiritude” and “Dawn Anna,” two tracks that are essentially instrumental. If only everything inbetween worked as well.