CD Review – Meredith Bragg
Nest
The Kora Records
I’ll be honest, this album was the first time I had heard anything by Meredith Bragg. I know, he’s a critic’s darling and most folksy types love him, but me; I’ve been out of the loop. Man, was I missing out. His new album “Nest” is the perfect combination of acoustic folk and indie-rock with hints of electronica.
“One True Love” and “Next Time” (with the heart-wrenching line, “Next time, I won’t let you go”) ooze with hints at his recently-born daughter. But not everything is so warm and fuzzy. “Birds of North America” was inspired by legendary bird-watcher John James Audubon, while Renaissance architecture gets the acoustic treatment on “The Last Hours of Brunelleschi.”
Bragg knows how to tug at your heart-strings, but he also knows how to get into the human soul. Even the last song (which is under a minute), “Waltz No. 3” is an acoustic beauty that sounds like it was pulled straight off of his sophomore record “Silver Sonya.”
I can’t believe that it has taken me this long to hear the gorgeous work of Meredith Bragg. And this album will turn anyone into a fan. Anyone with taste that is.
