by Kris Handel
Merce Lemon has proven herself to be a compelling songwriter, truly shining with her intimacy and sense of humor, be it writing songs about her cat or detailing sorrow that can take a sledgehammer to your heart. With her third full length album, Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild, Lemon and her bandmates have crafted a record of rolling country landscapes amidst heart-wrenching and cutting lyricism. Her music is stuffed to the brim with moments of intense insight and her somewhat restlessly changing environs, delving deeply into any subject matter with a bracing honesty. Lemon has a knack for creating beautiful yet slightly twisted melodies and her vocals bring a consuming fierceness that imparts a sense of power that you don't want to be on the wrong side of.
"Birdseed" opens the record as Lemon's vocals swoop around a collision of violins with slide and steel guitars. her double tracked voice sprawling out analogies about various parts of nature and relationship anxieties. The song swells and dissipates, mixing the cacophonous bursts of the chorus with the tender and slightly rueful verses to play out a sense of wonder that captures the intensity of the song. "Foolish and Fast" is a plaintively mournful look back at the follies of youth over a shuffling drumbeat and the dark and wobbly lead guitar of Reid Magette, who also lends his voice to dusky backing vocals. Lemon's vocals impart a weighty tone that is occasionally pierced with a straining yelp, there's a sense of drama akin to Palace Brothers/Music/etc.. with a hint of Wednesday.
"Crow" has Lemon grousing about lonely isolation and yearning for fellowship and an apprehensive vision of a more inviting future. Magette and Lemon's guitars wail and cry in a maelstrom of ringing notes before giving way to her whispering vocal adieus into a restful peace. The title track closes the record out in tremendous fashion as Lemon's vocals have a wispy Nick Drake-like timbre to them as 'bojo' (e-bow'd banjo) by Colin Miller adds it's airy presence to Xandy Chelmis' wheezing lap-steel interjections. Lemon's vocals take a fuller and drawling approach as the song progresses and her daydreaming tale sways and drifts away slowly as it follow the vocals softly into the night.
Lemon's music is intoxicating and striking throughout Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild. She’s crafted an album of great depth and intensity that pulls the listener apart. This record opens up with each listen and will burrow its way into something the audience will reach for and wonder at countless times, be it for moments of steely resolve or partaking in something to drown sorrows. Lemon pays a great amount of respect to her inspirations and songwriting forbearers yet indelibly stamps her own inimitable personality on each of these songs that sparkle through the dirt and grit. She shows herself to be a songwriter who has a stunning ability to reach into the listeners heart and blossoms with a bag of tricks to stand out on the folk/indie country scene.