Album Review: Putting on Airs by Erin Rae

Beginning with “Grand Scheme,” it immediately becomes clear that Rae, along with producers Dan Knobler and Jerry Bernhardt, have a specific window of time in mind for the album’s sonic aesthetic. By the middle of the song, cannonading kettle drums overtake McKaskle’s vocals and guitar in a Wrecking Crew-like fashion. Elsewhere, there are nods to other hallmarks of this era, like the gruff, Sticky Fingers rhythm guitar on “Like the First Time” or the Joni Mitchell staidness of Erin’s performance on “Can’t Cut Loose.” As with any newer artist borrowing from the oft-appropriated sound of mid-1960s/early-70s rock and pop, the question of originality rears its head.

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