The married duo present a set of winsome songs that succeed in feeling nostalgic but still new and carefully crafted.
If you’re a fan of Gram Parsons or Emmylou Harris, husband-and-wife duo Eleese and Matthew Meschery’s band name Brand New Heartache is bound to fire a spark of recognition. You might also be pleased to hear that the inspiration of Parsons and Harris can be felt throughout A New Alchemy, the couple’s debut album, as the Californian natives – who are recent transplants to Tennessee – showcase beautiful vocals, tight harmonies and, of course, a tale or two of heartache.
The airy, acoustic Montreal sees the couple dreaming of the city, of walking its streets as revellers spill from bars and the smell from bakeries fills the air, their harmonies so tight there is no room at all for movement. Next Best Thing finds the couple taking alternating rounds on vocals, coming together to harmonise on the chorus as they question if they are truly the people they each want to spend a life with and not simply the “next best thing”, but on the upbeat Precious Days they conceded that while “Time is not on our side / Now we’re both on the other side of 29”, they can do nothing but make the best of the time they have and not waste a precious moment.
There is a charming sweetness to Wedding Rice, the couple each taking solo vocals turns on verses, both wishing to “fall right into your open arms tonight / Like a fool who’s finally found his paradise”, before they voices meld beautifully on the chorus where they wish to “fall like wedding rice”. The Company We Keep is a peppy but loving ode to their parents and then to parenthood itself as the pair tackle the early days of life with a child (“When will he eat / When will he sleep / Should have read all the books / And magazines”), while Hold On finds them hoping to “Make it through the night” to fight another day together after an argument leaves a wedding ring in a dresser drawer and a “grown man” sleeping on the couch.
“Let’s raise the shade / And open up the window / Let’s feel the breeze / Watch the sunlight make the room glow,” they open on the bright and hopeful Raise The Shade, a song that displays all the best elements of Laurel Canyon folk-rock and 1960s psychedelia. Moving Song charts the move they made from CA to TN, while Younger Us questions what the younger versions of themselves would think of who they are now. Someone Else is perhaps the most devastating love song on the album, with Matthew confessing that if he had never found love with Eleese he would simply be “a stranger wearing these same clothes”, a person that he wouldn’t know and “Just a wandering fool, passing on through”.
On the power-pop infused New Alchemy, the couple each wonder “Is it all in my mind” about their chemistry, or if it’s in fact “some new alchemy”, but the kind of natural ease that comes from them isn’t the sort of thing that can be manufactured – even if many have tried to forcibly do so. A New Alchemy is refreshing too because it takes the best parts of some great American revival folk musicians, classic country and even indie and combines them into a winning formula, making something new and vibrant, while still maintaining a sense of reassuring nostalgia. Parson and Harris once sang “I feel a brand new heartache coming on”, and while it’s not normally the sort of thing you would hope to keep around, let’s hope this one is here to stay.
