Colourful and energetic country-rock done with verve.
Unhinged is Sophie Gault’s third album after Delusions of Grandeur (2022) and 2024’s Baltic Street Hotel. The title comes from her own view of herself: “I’m unhinged and a little bit crazy”, and this gives some idea of the energy of the record. It is rather traditional female-fronted country-rock, but done with such verve and brightness that it really wins you over and puts a smile on your face. And it doesn’t do any harm that Gault has a great country voice.
She has written five of the ten tracks here, but the first track is a rollicking Buck Owens cover, Love’s Gonna Live Here, with slide guitar and country licks, that improves on the original. This staple of her live set is a great start to the record. Following is Pocket Change, with a bit of a twang in the lead, written by Nashville singer-songwriter Mando Saenz.
The next two tracks have a Lucinda Williams flavour. The country-blues of Merlot Dodge Dart tells of keying a sports car in revenge after having more than one too many. Gault says, “It’s not advisable to do something like that, but I tried to lace the words with some sly humor”. Williams actually covered the next track, Robert Johnson’s Stop Breaking Down, as did The Rolling Stones on Exile On Main Street. Gaunt’s rockier version is less bluesy than either, which works well.
Chestnut Street is swinging country, which tells of a fellow student stringing her along: “Why don’t you tell me what I am to you?”. Stowaway, a turbo-charged rocker, was written on an Outlaw Country cruise, with the encouragement of Chuck Mead, who was also on the cruise. Gault had blagged her way on, as her partner, Adam “Ditch” Kurtz, was playing pedal steel for several of the bands. Kurtz himself contributes the fabulous country-rocker Whiskey Would Help, where the singer is nursing a broken heart:”I was feeling like a featherweight who just lost the fight of her life/ I thought the whiskey would help, and boy was I right”. Kurtz is running to be governor of Tennessee as a left-wing independent.
Last Call Rock and Roll is country, with a rousing, chant-along chorus. It has the traditional country themes of heartbreak and the redemptive power of music when times get tough. The final track, Is There Anyone Out There, was written by Gurf Morlix, who played with Lucinda Williams for many years and is a well-known record producer in addition to creating many albums himself. Its words concern looking out over Lake Huron in Canada. It brings the album to a calm and peaceful end and is a nice contrast to what has come before.
This album, with its great hooks and melodies, has a thumping heartbeat and blood coursing through its veins. The colourful and vigorous good-time country-rock really is an enjoyable listen.
