by After a six-year hiatus, Alison Krauss and Union Station (better known by its fans as AKUS) has released a calming, low-key, and familiar new CD, Paper Airplane, that instantly feels like an old friend welcoming you home.
AKUS albums have always relied heavily on relationships for their subject matter, but Paper Airplane takes that concept one step further, with every song dealing with romance in trouble on some level. Even Dan Tyminski’s songs, which normally focus on heritage and a love of the south, are full of heartache and turmoil (“On the Outside Looking In,” “Bonita and Bill Butler“).
As always, Alison Krauss provides effortless, lush vocals that drip with longing and quiet seduction.
Paper Airplane is, in every way, superior to Krauss’ project with Robert Plant, Raising Sand, which won Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards, made Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007, and was Rhapsody’s #2 on the list of “Best Country Albums of the Decade.”
There is no question in my mind just how good Raising Sand is. As a huge Union Station and Led Zeppelin fan, I think I just expected something different and never really connected with that release in a personal way. So to me, Paper Airplane feels like Krauss has truly come back where she belongs.
The title track, “Lie Awake,” and “Sinking Stone” all paint a melancholy, wistful landscape across blowing fields and lonely country roads, lamenting on the hurt of fading love. “Dimming of the Day” is also an early favorite among fans.
See the video for the first single here!
The version sold at Target stores features six bonus tracks-three new songs and three selections from the band’s 2002 live album. The three new tracks are as good as anything on the regular version, and “Frozen Fields,” a haunting reflection of lost love, is the best thing to come along from AKUS in years. While I am not a fan of big chains manipulating the public by releasing multiple choices of CDs in “exclusive” locations, it is worth the extra couple of dollars to get Target’s extended version.
While Paper Airplane may not break new ground, it certainly gives fans of Alison Krauss what they want…her pure, unadulterated vocals alongside arguably the most gifted bluegrass band in the history of the genre.
I have said it to people over and over again-even if you are not a fan of bluegrass music, you really should experience AKUS, a band that transcends the “country music” barriers and connects with people from all walks of life.
“There’s a comfort in the good old times; you don’t seem so far away…” (“Frozen Fields”)
