Nell Mescal’s, ‘The Closest We’ll Get’
Words: Tre Harris
Photos: Rebecca Young
★★★☆☆
Drawing from artists that set the indie folk gold standard like Big Thief, as well as a squeaky-clean pop inclined song writing style, Nell Mescal teams up with Adrienne Lenker producer Philip Weinrobe for her new EP, ‘The Closest We’ll Get’; a project as angry and confrontational as it is confessional as she details how a relationship is failing due to someone who isn’t putting the effort in, and how she can’t stop going back to it.
Photo: Rebecca Young
The opening track ‘Middle Man’ wastes no time setting up these themes, Mescal writes, “you’ve got a hold on me, mostly because I'm lonely”, as well as referencing a “wasted potential” in her partner. This establishes the dynamic Mescal dances and paints around. One poignant lyric on this track is, “you’ve always dreamed of a white picket fence, but you live in a city that doesn't make any sense”, which, to me, means that despite dreaming of some ideal life, represented by the white picket fence, the “you” in question would rather blame the city he’s in over his own laziness as to why he hasn't achieved his dream.
Sonically, ‘Middle Man’ starts with a full, bright and almost comforting piano sound with ambient texturing, which I can only assume is the input of Philip Weinrobe. The track also contains beautiful guitar tones. One of the better ballad style pop songs I've heard in a while.
Next up is title track, ‘The Closest We’ll Get”, which, starts with this Lenker-esk fingerpicked guitar, with very pretty texturing and shimmers. I particularly enjoyed the way the drums came in on first listen, but I find that the track drags on just a little bit. It is more in line with the pop landscape rather than the folk scene with some cliche Taylor Swift style writing techniques that made me roll my eyed a little bit.
My favourite tracks on the EP however are ‘Sweet Relief’ and ‘See You Again’, the closer and midpoint of the album. ‘See You Again’ features the lovely guitar tones with infectious folk groove on the drums, to me very reminiscent of Big Thief’s, ‘Dragon In The New Warm Mountain’, with the added traditional folk instrumentation, plucked violins, bowed double bass and textural fiddle that make this lush sound scape with a bridge that is again very Lenker-esk; This song also contains my favourite lyric on the album “You didn’t chase me like I thought you would; four flight of stairs you had the chance” a line that finds humour in the disparity of not being wanted.
‘Sweet Relief’ opens with this Joni Mitchel type acoustic guitar riff before being joined by a second guitar, with the signature tone the lead guitars have had so far, as well as drums and orchestral elements in the chorus before a double time bridge where Mescal comes to terms with not being able to love this person fully due to their laziness, she writes “I can hold you longer now that friendships what I chose.” An almost gut wrenching lyric which hits close to home for many I imagine.
To conclude, Nell Mescal’s latest is a record that fuses both indie folk and pop in a way that, at its best is searing and infectious, but at its worst is endless pop mind numbing.