Kasey Chambers
Barricades & Brickwalls  (Warner Bros.)
by Marc Hirsh

originally published in Space City Rock, Fall 2002

“Barricades & Brickwalls,” the song, ought to scare the shit out of anybody who buys Barricades & Brickwalls, the album, based on “Not Pretty Enough,” the song that I’m sure I’d hear on the radio if I listened to the radio stations that play that sort of thing. The title track kicks off the album with a single-minded determination, as Chambers declares that she will get her man come hell or high water; “By the end of the day,” she vows, “I’ll take you away like a force 10 hurricane,” and not for a second is there any wavering doubt that she possesses the power and inclination to make it happen.

Coming immediately afterwards, “Not Pretty Enough” is jarring as hell, sort of like “Passionate Kisses” wracked by self-doubt. It is a sweet, fine song that is totally at odds with the track that’s just finished. I will hunt you down like a woman possessed, says Chambers, following it up with, Is there something wrong with me? Hearing it on the heels of “Barricades,” I don’t believe that she could possibly believe the words coming out of her mouth; it would be like Liz Phair singing “You Were Meant For Me” on Exile in Guyville.

The dissonance established by those first two songs sets the tone for the rest of Barricades. There’s no law against showing range, but Chambers ends up establishing a two-dimensional persona instead of a three-dimensional one; all it does is further polarize the alt-country spitfire from the adult contemporary balladeer. The difference is so striking that the best songs (all, for what it’s worth, in minor keys) amount to something akin to damage control. Every few tracks, another barnburner pops up to remind us why we’re allowing Chambers to toy with us. “Runaway Train” picks up on the promise (or threat) of “Barricades” three songs later, and the country-punk of “Crossfire” flares up ten cuts in to snarl,“I thought I had it clear from the start/I don’t have a heart.”

Too true, but such reminders would be unnecessary if Chambers wasn’t afflicted, in songs like “A Million Tears” (which finds her almost crippled by the absence of her man), with the urge to play the weepy lovelorn diarist. Such Jewelry runs deep, as evidenced by the solo acoustic “Falling Into You” and the unlisted “Ignorance”; the latter is a ghastly, ultra-topical query into the state of the world with a title far too ironic for a song that attempts to boil down society’s ills into convenient, simplistic verses. When Chambers sings, “I’ve got something to say/And I thought it might be worth a mention,” you want to tell her to think again.

The problem with the problem with Barricades is that the generic AAA songs often aren’t bad. “Not Pretty Enough,” “If I Were You” (“… I would notice me”) and “Nullarbor Song” would be keepers for anybody else – handsome, well-crafted roots-pop sung in a borderline-remarkable voice that’s equal parts Ms. Kilcher and Susan Cowsill. And Chambers gets credit for sticking to her guns and making it dingoes howling in “Nullarbor Song,” giving the song a distinct sense of place when “wild dogs” would have scanned just as well while blanding the title locale just enough for global consumption. I suspect that this change will be made when Nashville gives these songs to a singer whose persona allows her to pull it off better.

Only the final listed track successfully combines the two Kaseys. Sharing a vocal with fellow Aussie Paul Kelly, Chambers infuses “I Still Pray” with both the steeliness and humility that switch off everywhere else on the album. Maybe it’s because she’s not getting gooshy over a gentleman caller but declaring her faith in something beyond her control. It’d be great if the two sides of Chambers would fully merge, vulnerability combined with fierceness in one devastating package. Until that happens, though, if I have to choose which Kasey is the real one, I’ll take the Woman Who Will Not Be Scorned over the sensitiva in a heartbeat. Barricades & Brickwalls may not deliver on her promise, but it sure raises the stakes high enough to root for her.

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