Album Review: The Firewatcher's Daughter by Brandi Carlile

Seizing the occasion of a label switch to shake up her approach to recording, Brandi Carlile cut The Firewatcher's Daughter quickly, bashing out its 12 songs in a series of single takes with longtime collaborators Tim and Phil Hanseroth. The Twins, as the Hanseroth brothers are known, have been by Carlile's side since her 2005 eponymous debut, so this album doesn't amount to a shift in aesthetic as much as it is a consolidation -- a consolidation that just so happens to leave a few frayed edges dangling. It's a nifty trick, emphasizing mess, especially in the wake of records where all the loose ends were appealingly tied.

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The supremely talented Brandi Carlile returns with what may well be her best set yet, flush with songs of love and devotion, as well as her usual assortment of rousing rockers and celebratory shout-outs. Carlile’s ascendance to the top tier of pop stardom has been a rapid one, but given her song writing skills and obvious rock star charisma, it’s not surprising either. Carlile has that unique ability to convey sentiments that can be both celebratory and circumspect, and on tracks like “Wherever Is You Heart,” “The Things I Regret” and “Blood Muscle Skin & Bone,” her declarations of devotion are sung with both assertion and affirmation.

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Brandi Carlile The Firewatcher's Daughter (ATO) Brandi Carlile seems determined to defy expectations. Following stints with producers Rick Rubin and T Bone Burnett, she took the reigns herself for her fourth LP, 2012's Bear Creek. On the Seattle songwriter's fifth studio disc, she jumps from major label to powerful indie ATO, and cuts an album of marginally rehearsed, single-take tracks that expose rougher edges her previous efforts had largely polished off.

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