Until hearing Ric Robertson's new collection Carolina Child, I had never made a connection between old-time fiddle tunes and Cajun, Zydeco and New Orleans funk. The North Carolina native certainly did, though, once he relocated and completed his musical education in the Crescent City, tying the rhythmic trance elements of both forms into his piano-driven, poetic storytelling. Opening cut "Getting Over Our Love" sets the tone of exquisite heartbreak echoed throughout the album. Guitar leads the way here, as the protagonist's "heart pounds on / Like a midnight pearl in the morning sun / Til' I'm out with somebody else getting over our love." Holly Laessig from Lucius sings harmony vocals in this reverberating, loping snapshot of melancholy, while the gentle touch of Gulf Coast psychedelia (courtesy of Sam Fribush's synths) bridges the mood from lament to hope.
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