For his seventh album,
Chuck Prophet updates the all-over-the-map quality that made
Green on Red's early albums so bracing.
Age of Miracles is rooted in the same country and folk influences as
Prophet's other solo albums, but
Prophet and co-producer
Eric Drew Feldman add a quasi-psychedelic haze and some distinct blues riffs to the mix. The title track, for example, combines a
Neil Young-style country-rock tune with a prominent string section playing a woozy high-register part, a funky wah-wah guitar riff that appears to be playing at half speed for full lysergic atmosphere, and a vocal part from
Prophet's wife and musical partner,
Stephanie Finch (the
Emmylou Harris to his
Gram Parsons), that's so high it's almost audible only to dogs. Similarly, the opening "Automatic Blues" has a swampy, creepy atmosphere that recalls
Feldman's former employer
Captain Beefheart, and the downright odd "You Did (Bomp Shooby Dooby Bomp)" has a trippy electronic sheen and an unexpected rapped chorus. In this context, songs like the more traditionally minded "West Memphis Moon" are the ones that sound out of place! However, the combination of country twang and psychedelic weirdness works more often than not, and it makes a nice change from
Prophet's recent albums, which were starting to sound a bit formulaic. It's not as big a change as
Wilco made with
Summerteeth and
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but
Age of Miracles has a similar restless quality.