Album review: “Many Miles” by Many Miles
There’s more than a hint of ’70s pop stylings in the music of Many Miles. I say this with no intended sarcasm and no hidden sneer. I love ’70s pop. But though the debut album from this southern-Utah-based band incorporates a lot of the sounds and production values of that decade, it would be a mistake to pigeonhole the band as a nostalgia act. Many Miles offers a unique sensibility, a promising collection of songs, and — as with many good bands — two lead singers.
Many of the songs here seem intended for listeners in a mellow mood, with the hint of cool canyon wind lulling one into a dreamy state. Think of your favorite outdoor performance venue: Many Miles is the perfect band for it. The band brings together an impressive arsenal of talent, not the least of which are the two lead singers and songwriters, Dave Tate and Victoria Lagerstrom. The band’s website explains that Tate initiated a “long distance musical correspondence” with Lagerstrom, a Swedish singer who soon traveled to Utah to record a duo album with Tate. The two fell in love, married three weeks after meeting, recorded some albums, toured Europe, and have now formed a full band.
The songs on the album alternate between the two singers. Tate’s songs are generally mid-tempo guitar-based numbers with occasionally repetitive rhythm guitar parts. His singing is far less impressive than Lagerstrom’s, though perfectly serviceable and always clear. If you think fondly of ’70s bands like Toto, you will hear some of them in Tate’s smooth vocals. (Again, this is not intended as a dig.) On the tracks where the two singers harmonize, Tate’s vocals provide a perfect complement to Lagerstrom. Tate’s lead guitar playing, on the other hand, is distinctive and bold, at times reminiscent of Dave Matthews and at other times David Gilmour.
But the real strength of this band is Lagerstrom’s voice. Lagerstrom physically resembles Joni Mitchell, and her singing bears many similarities with Mitchell, too. Not early Joni; Lagerstrom’s pitch is lower and throatier. If you’ve listened to Joni’s later work, as her voice has slowly shown the effects of age and smoking, you’ll know that she still retains a distinctive, powerful tone in her later albums, though it is much changed. Lagerstrom, by contrast, has clearly not abused her voice in the same way Joni did but still has a very appealing huskiness. Her songs here are generally slower and more hypnotic. In addition, Lagerstrom has a slight but distinct accent, one that is hard to pin down but absolutely attention-grabbing. At times, it’s hard to tell exactly what she’s singing, but when she breaks out into a soaring chorus, as she does near the end of “Gone Too Long,” singing “Set my soul free,” you might think you’ve never heard a more distinct, memorable voice. There’s an earlier point in that song when her voice reaches a low register, not unlike that of Cassandra Wilson. It’s an amazing performance.
Lagerstrom’s songs are so engaging that one may become less patient with Tate’s tracks. But Tate has his own bag of tricks, as on “Sweet Caress” when he hits some intriguing falsetto notes. I wish there were more of this on the album. Ultimately, however, Lagerstrom does a better job of selling the lyrics. When she sings the somewhat cliched chorus of “Love Goes On” (“Only love goes on though the storm keeps raging”), you’ll believe every word. The album’s lyrics are the kind that strive for emotional recognition from the listener rather than poetic (or grammatical) sensibility, and they are not particularly memorable. Fortunately, when Lagerstrom is singing, you won’t care.
Mention must also be made of the saxophone playing of Marco Blackmore. If you are like me and can’t get enough of the kind of saxophone breaks featured on classic pop tunes by Billy Joel and Gerry Rafferty, reach out and touch faith: Marco Blackmore is your new Messiah. Though he’s only heard on a few songs on the album, his presence is consistently inviting.
All of the best elements of Many Miles come together on the album’s penultimate track, “Free.” It begins with some gentle strumming that sounds like an outtake from a Fleetwood Mac session (the Buckingham-Nicks era, naturally), and the song itself would fit in nicely on the radio after one of those George Martin-produced tracks by America. Many Miles, like Fleetwood Mac, seem equipped with a bumper crop of talent. My advice to the band, for what it’s worth: Let Victoria Lagerstrom sing everything.
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