Album Review: Give Up The Ghost by Brandi Carlile

Watch Paste's video review of this album here.--A good thing gets betterBrandi Carlile is a woman out of time. She’s no revivalist—four years into her recording career, her albums owe as much to early Radiohead as they do Johnny Cash. But she seems like an artist who, at any point in the past 50 years, could’ve come busting out of Ravensdale, Wash., to bowl the world over like she did in 2005 with her self-titled debut.

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If there was any flaw with Brandi Carlile's second album, The Story, it's that it was perhaps a touch too austere, painted in amber tones by producer T Bone Burnett. Its 2009 sequel, Give Up the Ghost, opens up and breathes, perhaps partially due to swapping T Bone for Rick Rubin, who retains the spooky, serious vibe but makes things a little less chilly. This isn't sealed off; there is room for guests here, including such L.A.

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Brandi Carlile’s third full-length album, Give Up the Ghost, opens with a single strum and then the cuffed chugging of her acoustic guitar as the 28-year-old Seattle native starts singing in her warm alto. The song, “Looking Out”, builds to a soaring pre-chorus that shows off Carlile’s remarkable power and range. The band comes crashing in—including writing and touring partners, and twin brothers, Tim and Phil Hanseroth, on guitar and bass, respectively, who are joined in the studio by Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on drums and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls on harmony vocals—and the song reaches impressive heights.

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