By Brad Halasz
If you don’t like country music, you should listen to Corb Lund. If you do, you should still be listening to Corb Lund. Fans probably already have his new album, but if you’ve never heard of him, you owe it to yourself to give him a listen.
Cabin Fever, his seventh studio album, was mostly written in a cabin located an hour outside of Edmonton. He spent weeks there alone, thinking, writing and getting “cabin fever.” It feels a bit darker than previous albums, but still has the variety and the unmistakable Corb Lund sound. The variety makes the album refreshing and catchy, showing that Corb Lund is in touch with his roots, but not living in the past.
The lead song “Gettin’ Down On The Mountain” is up-beat and fun, but harbours a dark “end of the world” theme, asking if you could survive without the comforts of civilization.
Stories about bibles, antique pistols, gravediggers and motorcycles, stories you have never heard before, make up Cabin Fever. Lund’s music is often a break from the popular theme of “relationship problems,” even though he includes a couple of those songs for good measure.
“September” yearns for a girl while wondering how 1,000 acres and the Rocky Mountains can compete with a small flat in New York, while “Gothest Girl I Can” searches for a new love interest.
The album is at times haunting, with lyrics that make you think, such as the regretful, “One Left In The Chamber.” It also proves that everything can be better with “Cows Around,” a highly-amusing up-beat song about the country lifestyle with clever, yet silly, lyrics.
Overall, this album is more of the one-of-a-kind Corb Lund that fans have grown to love, although it is admittedly an acquired taste. Whether you are enjoying an old favourite or trying something new, you won’t be disappointed.