Today I’m listening to Dandelion by Ella Langley. (If you missed it, yesterday was Don’t Look Down by Rod Wave)
First up: it’s country1!
I’m not really a huge country fan2 but I’m open.
I was on alert for ‘this is so not for me’ vibes when I saw the notes on the album saying “I’m in the back half of my twenties and still figuring it out….”. I’m not in that stage so was wary.
First Impressions
Ella won me over a little by starting the album with an accoustic verse of “Froggy Went A-Courtin” which my Dad3 used to sing to me, and taught me to play on the guitar when I was very young4.
The next three songs were eminently listenable. Good, solid country-pop songs of the kind that reminded me of listening to BBC Radio 2 in the late 1970s.
The first few songs feel modern in sentiment as well as having a solid country feel, and I found myself thinking “I can definitely see why people are loving this.”
It felt summery, even though some of the songs are breakup songs. None of them feel dark, though—more ‘shrug, this is how life goes sometimes, I guess’.
Going Deeper
The quality and listenability of the songs continued throughout the album. There was variety of styles. She’s obviously working with good musicians and has a sophisticated grasp of modern songwriting5.
There are a couple of songs that lean into the country heritage instrumentally (violins and slide guitars) as well as lyrically (“Bottom of Your Boots”, in which she asks the man to love her ‘from the bottom of your boots to the top of your hat’) but they manage not to feel derivative. I think there’s something in the way she constructs the lyrics and the way they scan, that kept it interesting for me.
There’s also “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” which is a fun ‘reply’ song to a country classic.
And some of the songs throw in a Hammond organ for that 60s/70s pop feel.
Verdict
I really liked Ella Langley’s voice. It’s an unaffected, expressive voice with a country twang. I like her songwriting too.
Many of the songs have the feel of a having a whole story behind the moment that sparked the song, and those moments feel universal: being cheated on, wanting to get away for a day or two with your lover; struggling with faith; wanting to know if it’s really love; being jealous of people with their seemingly perfect lives…all without feeling self-indulgent or mopey.
There’s some real talent and craft in these songs. There are questions rather than preaching. There’s nostalgia without a whole-hearted hankering for some perfect golden age we should all go back to. (And there is, I think, self-awareness in the nostalgia and jealousy songs: it’s not real, but the kind of ‘what if’ moment we’re all subject to.)
If the whole album had been like the acoustic “Most Good Things Do”, it would have been too much ‘sad girl with a guitar’, but the variety of arrangements and song styles is a plus.
It’s fairly ‘easy listening’, so might enrage people who are looking for a little more ‘bite’ in their music6.
The strength of this album is, I think, that there are intimate songs that are given depth by the backing of great country musicians, along with songs you could imagine Dolly Parton singing, some that edge towards yacht-rock7 and some more pop-edged songs8.
And it didn’t hurt that she came back around to Froggy Went A-Courtin’ (live version) as an outro. ;)
I could see myself putting this on in the car as I drive around, singing along.
Post-Script
The version of the album I listened to (on Apple Music) didn’t let things finish with the official ‘outro’, though.
It went on to include a final song (clearly a single and a collaboration). It was too slick for me and there was something 80s-synth pop/Dire Straits going on in the background. It was my least favorite song on the album, I think because it was trying to please too many people. Both singers were good, and the song is fine, but it sort of slid off my brain without leaving a mark.
If I add listen to this album again, I’ll stop with Froggy.
- I grabbed my listening list from the Billboard 200 and hadn’t noticed it’s all-genres. So this was a surprise and, as it turns out, a pleasant one. ↩︎
- Especially not the blokey boots-and-trucks-and-god country rock stuff, though even that part of the music catalogue has some good songs in it. ↩︎
- Who was dosed with too much folk music in his youth to be a big fan of country or folk, but who was a sucker for a novelty song and anything that would make his kids laugh. This and “You Cannae Shove Your Granny Off A Bus” were standards around our house… ↩︎
- Awwww, cute! ↩︎
- She seems to have had a hand in writing most of the songs, which is not always the case. Good for her. ↩︎
- This is me, some days ↩︎
- Which is apparently having a moment, with the young’uns… ↩︎
- “Be Her” and “Bottom of Your Boots” felt–musically–like they could be slow Dua Lipa songs, if she changed her accent! ↩︎
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