CASS MCCOMBS plays the Great Hall December 4. See listing. Rating: NNNN
For a guy who told NOW last year that he hopes there won’t be records in the future, Cass McCombs records a lot of music.
His “seventh and a half” album is nearly an hour and a half long and spans two discs, its 19 songs interspersed with audio clips from a 1970 documentary called Sean (in which a four-year-old talks about dogs, cops and drugs).
It even opens with a song about heavy machinery, masculinity and driving long distances alone (Big Wheel). Thankfully, listening to the record doesn’t feel like a long haul. This is because McCombs’s songwriting has become less opaque and more direct, without losing any of his signature poetry, mystery and dark humour.
Late actor Karen Black (who sang on McCombs’s 2009 song Dreams Come True Girl) takes lead vocals on the beautiful and moving Brighter! – the clear standout.
Top track: Brighter! feat. Karen Black
