A musical move to the mainstream.
On this, her third album, Katie Pruitt has taken on issues of personal and wider chaos and impermanence; lofty issues indeed, but the question arises as to whether the ambition is matched by the medium.
Matching Tattoos, which opens the album, is pleasant enough if not striking. Production and sound seem very polished; there’s nary a rough edge in sight, and the sound is very much aimed at the mainstream, and the central conceit of the title feels somewhat predictable. This feel continues on The Aftermath, which would, stylistically and lyrically, fit comfortably into a mid-career Taylor Swift niche (not a bad thing, but it’s a musical touchstone that’s becoming increasingly ubiquitous). Lightly double-tracked vocals add to the gloss but take away the bite from the sentiment; even the alternative additional version with extra swear words doesn’t rough things up enough to snag the listener by way of lyrical barbs.
Blackout, which features Nolan Taylor on twin lead vocals, is a MOR-ish, radio-friendly rumination on romantic commitment, but it doesn’t tax the listener musically or lyrically. Disaster, which follows, fortunately doesn’t live up to its name, but stays in second gear throughout despite warm acoustic picking and a tender vocal.
Little Boxes doesn’t deviate from the preceding musical tone in that it’s smooth and professional, but seems to have had all the spirit vacuumed out of it; the juxtaposition between the societal pressure felt by the singer and the musical context that those feelings are expressed in doesn’t convince. On Not Scared to Die, Pruitt’s vocal is more to the fore in the mix, giving the song a bit more grit, but once again the ghost of Taylor Swift looms large with the use of controlled falsetto and lyrical preoccupation with flawed yet occasionally exciting relationships.
Title track Fools for the Fleeting is a late-night soul tune that’s somewhat of an album manifesto in its straightforward paean to life’s transience; that soulful tone is extended on If I Call You Mine, where strings threaten to add a bit of stronger musical emotion, but the ever-tasteful production keeps that firmly in check.
Orion’s Belt features Sierra Hull on mandolin, giving the track a sliver of the clinical bluegrass soul that Alison Krauss, and Hull herself, have patented, before the concluding As Far As Forever gently draws things to a thematic and lyrical-logical compromise on the state of the world. Musically, it’s again somewhat placid in tone, which, if laid-back is your thing, is fine, but it tends to blend into the overall musical mise-en-scène.
It seems as though Pruitt has planted both feet firmly in mainstream ground on Fools for the Fleeting, but in doing so, seems to have lost the idiosyncrasies that previously gave her an edge.
