If Bruce Springsteen was in the ire of the free world’s leader, then following Neil Young’s latest remit, Talkin to the Trees, the folk legend probably runs The Boss a close second. On the straight shooting Lets Roll Again, Neil urges Ford and General Motors to get their shit together and start making clean cars – the current state of play seeing American’s manufacturing giants falling behind the pecking order to China. Of course, it doesn’t apply to Tesla unless, in Neil’s eyes, you’re a fascist…
It’s the most jarring moment on Neil’s latest remit. His sizzling bile, exploding from the gullet, and not just towards ours leaders (one in particular whose main feats are flagrantly disregarding international law and orchestrating drive-bys from a clown car); the off spray hits some of Neil’s fans, too. His politics, always divisive among his older, more conservative-minded listenership and as the MAGAs continue being freely led up the path to Dracula’s castle, the folk legend rebuffs, throwing down the gauntlet which results in the best album he’s unleashed from the vaults since 2010’s Le Noise.
Joined by his new band The Chrome Hearts, featuring long-time collaborator Spooner Oldham (Farfisa organ), Micah Nelson (guitar), Corey McCormick (bass) and Anthony LoGerfo (drums), while Talking to the Trees sees Neil at his most ferocious and free-wheeling, it always sees the songwriter at his most tender; both ends of the spectrum offering poignant snapshots of his discography at large.
Lyrically, there’s beautiful reflection. The folk serenades on the bookends, Family Life and Thankful, which finds Neil authoring open love letters to his family (“I’ll sing it from the heart/ that’ll be the easy part,” he sings on the former). The title track occupies a similar milieu. From thinking about what Bob Dylan was signing in the prime to “standing in line at the farmer’s market”, it’s Neil journalling his past and present.
Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts - Talkin to the TreesElsewhere, the swinging blues rock of Dark Mirage is parts loose and visceral – Neil, indeed, “rolling down the beach with the sun climbing the sky”, amid Nelson’s riffs that reach a similar point. As its title suggests, the same warmth radiates on First Fire of Winter. A soft-hearted, back porch lament that could be mistaken for something off Harvest Moon. It’s not the only time where Neil’s past comes into focus. The chiming honky tonk of Silver Eagle, something that sits between the low-key majesty of Comes a Time and prime-era Neil of Tonight’s the Night.
Then there’s Big Change. All clatter and crunch, Neil towers with monolithic chords and riff-a-rolla indicative of the barnyard workouts of the Crazy Horse days. Here, Neil bristles with raw malevolence and backed by a sonic storm to match, it’s one of his most urgent moments captured on tape in years.
A world away from the piano led penultimate track, Bottle of Love, where once again Neil gets ruminative (“All your tears are being saved / In a bottle of love”). It underlines the contrast of Talkin to the Trees. These heartfelt moments, offsetting the rage of Lets Roll Again and Big Change, and while these songs emphatically bore through the bulls eye, the quiet / loud extremities don’t come off as bipolar at all, instead resulting in Neil’s best and most well-rounded release since the turn of the century.
Talkin to the Trees is out now via Reprise Records. Purchase here.
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