Stream: Cass McCombs, ‘There Can Be Only One’

Kevin Bronson on November 4th, 2013

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Sometimes you just want songs. Folk, rock, country, blues … doesn’t matter. It takes a while to sort through the 22 (!) on singer-songwriter Cass McCombs’ new album “Big Wheel and Others,” just out on Domino, but ultimately the double-LP doesn’t wear out its welcome. In fact, you barely notice McCombs’ stylistic shifts once you’re submerged in his lyrical womb, wound around his melodies and subjected to his whimsical excursions. “Big Wheel,” McCombs’ first album since 2011 (when he released two full-lengths), is more like a work of literature than a record album, and it would take a treatise to dissect it. Suffice to say that from the 1970s California country flavor of “Angel Blood” to “Brighter!,” which features a collaboration with the late actress/singer Karen Black (see also: 2009’s gorgeous “Dreams Come True Girl”), it’s worth the investment.

||| Stream: “There Can Be Only One” and “Brighter! (featuring Karen Black)”