Album Review: Ray Lamontagne & The Pariah Dogs

The reclusive beard sporting man of the woods Ray Lamontagne is finally starting to sound as though he's enjoying life as a musician. Hooking up with The Pariah Dogs as his backing band, the album has a little more funk and groove than Lamontagne's early work. Overall, the move is a good one. Lamontagne has qualities that remind me of early Neil Young records where the brilliance of songwriting and singing came from a painful place. Both artists at times shine in their music when it sounds as if they are singing out of a physical pain too difficult to communicate by any means other than singing from the gut.

Opening track "Repo Man" swings with funk that could be written by Dave Mathews sans saxophone. The song exudes joy, and you can tell Lamontagne is thoroughly enjoying himself singing with a great rootsy country band. This music is truly worthy of the north-east wilderness a-la music from Big Pink (not to mention Ray's vocals are always reminiscent of Levon Helm). Moving on, the album has some tracks where Lamontagne falls back into his comfort zone. The insignificant "New York City's Killing Me" sounds as though Lamontagne was going through writing without emotion just to add another track to the album.

Other standouts include the first single "Beg Steal or Borrow," and "Old Before Your Time." Here is to hoping that Lamontagne keeps The Pariah Dogs around long term. By adding lap slide guitar, banjo, and a little bit of funk, lamontagne has found a group of musicians that bring strengths to his writing and singing that have not been so visible in the past.