BRUCE COCKBURN : O SUN O MOON

BRUCE COCKBURN : O SUN O MOON

On A Roll
Orders
Push Come To Shove
Colin Went Down To The Water
Into The Now
Us All
To Keep The World We Know
King Of The Bolero
When The Spirit Walks In The Room
Haiku
O Sun By Day O Moon By Night
When You Arrive

Label : True North

Release Date : May 12, 2023

Length : 51:36

Review (IckMusic) : In 53 years of writing and recording, there’s been an undercurrent of spirituality in the music of Canadian Bruce Cockburn. He’s always had a knack for painting a picture of his Christian faith in a way that doesn’t hit you over the head, using the beauty and mystery of the natural world to illustrate the wonder of it all (just listen to my all-time favorite album of his, Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws, and you’ll know what I mean). His innate kindness and empathy for his fellow humans has always drawn me to him. Bruce Cockburn is one of the good ones (and criminally underappreciated in these United States, but I’ll digress). With O Sun O Moon, due out May 12th on True North records, Bruce’s spiritual side steps out of the shadows and, well, “Into the Now.” Bruce Cockburn will turn 78 this month, and after a tough collective few years for all of us, Bruce brings out themes of faith, mortality, love, conflict and climate in this beautiful collection of songs. Recorded at on/off band member, album producer & pal Colin Linden’s backyard studio in Nashville, the album features some quality guests – from Buddy Miller and Sarah Jarosz to Shawn Colvin and Allison Russell (have you heard Nightflyer?). From the get go, Bruce faces that ticking clock and his faith head on with “I’m On A Roll”: Pressure building left and right / Timer ticking, just out of sight / I’m taking shelter in the light Time takes its toll / But in my soul / I’m on a roll The powerful “Orders” addresses the oft overlooked yet plain and simple mantra of “Love thy neighbor”: The sweet, the vile, the small, the tall The one who rises to the call / The list is long — as I recall / Our orders said to love them all Not an easy concept to adhere to, is it? But nonetheless, as Bruce illustrates so well throughout the record, it’s the foundation of his faith. With the backing of Shawn Colvin’s beautiful voice, the sweet, laid back front-porch feel of “Push Comes to Shove” continues the message: “push comes to shove / It’s all about love.” In July 2021, Bruce vacationed in Maui with Dr. Jeff Garner, the lead pastor of the San Francisco Lighthouse church, which Bruce attends. In addition to helping lead a Sunday service, Bruce spent some quality time writing tunes. The first song he wrote is my personal favorite, “Into the Now,” which has been a staple of his solo acoustic show ever since (I was lucky enough to see him play it in Scottsdale last year). It’s a Cockburn special: timely, poignant lyrics, a chorus that varies each of the first three times before tying all together exquisitely at the end; strung together words like: “Light as the feet of birds hunting on sod / Love trickles down like honey from God”; Sarah Jarosz on harmonies and mandolin. I mean, come on (!), it gets no better. Another Maui-written song, “Colin Went Down To The Water” was released to streaming services a few weeks back. Featuring background vocals by Allison Russell, Buddy Miller and Colin Linden, the spiritual call and response of the song instantly connected with me (listen below). The third Maui song is “King of the Bolero,” where Bruce channels a raspy, bluesy vocal to tell the story of a nightclub guitarist who’s “Got a double chin all the way round his neck / And a pot belly in the back.” Not a flattering image, and it makes me wonder who inspired this (internet sleuthing tells me the nightclub in the the Maui Grand Wailea Hotel is the Botero lounge. The Colombian artist Botero is mentioned in the song. Did Bruce write this while taking in some entertainment at the Botero? Hmm…). Bruce’s resonator guitar, Gary Craig’s xylophone, Viktor Strauss’s bowed bass and Jenny Scheinman’s gorgeous violin usher in the sublime “Us All” (also available on the streaming services). It’s a hypnotic, mournful plea to “let kindness reign for Us All.” The welcome sound of Bruce’s dulcimer rings in “To Keep the World We Know,” a sobering take on climate change, sung with indigenous Canadian artist Susan Aglukark (who sings in a native Inuit language called Inuktitut). An important message; and rhythmically reminiscent of Bruce’s great 1977 tune “Arrows of Light.” The closing songs of O Sun O Moon bring it all back to the theme of faith & mortality in their own unique ways. The penultimate tune is the prayerful “O Sun By Day O Moon By Night,” featuring spoken word verses building to a joyous chorus prayer with gospel-soaked background vocals: O sun by day o moon by night / Light my way so I get this right / And if that sun and moon don’t shine/ Heaven guide these feet of mine / To Glory The album finale, “When You Arrive,” culminates in a singalong chorus featuring the full cast of previously mentioned characters. With a sauntering, New Orleans style rhythm, the repeated chorus brings to my mind an image of Bruce and the gang second-lining lazily down a French Quarter street, shuffling contently off into the distance – firm in their faith – and ready for whatever may be waiting around corner.

Review (Written In Music) : Bruce Cockburn krijgt het muziekvirus te pakken als hij in de late jaren vijftig een oude gitaar vindt op oma’s zolder, hij versiert het instrument met gouden sterretjes en probeert de radiohits op de radio na te spelen. De Kay archtop gitaar die Bruce cadeau krijgt wordt geen succes en er volgen pianolessen in Westboro, de voorstad van Ottawa waar hij opgroeit. Cockburn geraakt in de ban van jazzmuziek in ‘64 besluit hij om muzikant te worden en steekt de Oceaan over, in Parijs overleeft hij als busker. In Boston volgt hij enkele semesters compositie aan de Berklee School Of Music als hij terug naar huis gestuurd wordt likt hij zijn wonden in Ottawa met The Children en gaat vervolgens even aan de slag bij The Esquires, een popcombo dat op zijn laatste benen loopt. In Toronto zet hij The Flying Circus op maar vrij snel profileert Cockburn zich als singer-songwriter in een folkidioom dat van mystieke naar ecologie pendelt, halverwege de jaren zeventig komt daar zijn Born Again Christian geloof bij. Eind jaren zeventig bereikt zijn muziek via de VS ook Europa met Wondering Where The Lions Are If I Had a Rocket Launcher, geïnspireerd door de bekommernissen voor het ecosysteem, de mensenrechten en de politieke ontwikkelingen en armoede in Centraal Amerika, waar hij actief is als internationaal waarnemer voor Oxfam.Het uit ’86 daterende Call It Democrazy is ongetwijfeld de enige song ooit expliciet gewijd aan het IMF. Ondertussen evolueerde het repertoire met werkstukken als Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu naar een meer eclectische benadering die folkbluesblues en jazzelementen met woldbeat verbind. In de jaren tachtig eindigde de langdurige samenwerking met producer Eugene Martynec en na enkele langspelers met producer T. Bone Burnett wordt Colin Linden de vaste (co)producer. Het vorig jaar uitgebrachte Rarities bevatte naast demo’s, onuitgebracht werk of bijdragen aan tributes. Op het grotendeels akoestisch ingevulde O Sun O Moon start op de riffs van resonerend snarenwerk daar komen de warme volronde bas van Viktor Krauss en slide van Linden bij. “Time takes it toll but in my soulI’m on a roll “, zingt Cockburn Shawn Colvin en gospelsista’s An en Regina McCrary zuchten mee. Ondanks onheilspellende, ingrijpende gebeurtenissen schemert enige tevredenheid door voor een bestaan op de aardkloot op oudere leeftijd. Orders put inspiratie uit Bijbelse geboden die met wanhopige, angstige ondertoon gedebiteerd worden ondersteund door marimba percussie en akoestische picking. Colin Went Down The water gaat niet over Cockburns trouwe compagnon Linden maar over een vriend uit San Francisco die naar het Hawaiaanse Maui verhuisde, tijdens een vakantie in dat paradijselijke oord ontving Cockburn nog een hartelijk welkom berichtje, later ontdekte hij dat hij overleden was. Het samen met de Inuit folklady Susan Aglukark gecomponeerde To Keep the World We Know is een hulpkreet over de globale opwarming en de onontkoombare desastreuze gevolgen. Het op luchtige klarinet huppelende King Of The Bolero lijkt uit een ballroom in New Orleans weggelopen, evenals het jazzy Push Comes To Shove en het kabbelende instrumentaaltje Haiku ademt het berusting uit. O Sun O Moon toont een geïnspireerd songwriter die op de vooravond van zijn 78steverjaardag een dozijn songs de wereld instuurt die naadloos aansluiten bij het betere werk uit een omvangrijk repertoire.

Review (Folk Radio) : Approaching his 78th birthday this month, Bruce Cockburn returns with ‘O Sun O Moon’, a terrific album…possibly one of his best. After publishing his memoirs, Rumours of Glory in 2013, Bruce Cockburn said he felt creatively exhausted. Since then, there have only been two albums, 2017’s Bone On Bone and 2019’s all-instrumental Crowing Ignites. He returns now, recharged and, as the opening tracks say, On A Roll, even if the track itself, featuring producer Colin Linden on electric and resophonic guitars, Viktor Krauss and upright bass and Shawn Colvin and Ann and Regina McCrary on vocals, is more inclined to gloom and doom (“howl of anger, howl of grief/Here comes the heat, with no relief/Social behaviour/Beyond belief”) with its grim vision of today’s world and notes of mortality (“Finality is hard to bear/Continue breathing/And beware”). And yet, as veined throughout the album, with its focus on “spiritual connections, forgiveness, and love”, faith provides light as he sings “But in my soul/I’m on a roll”. We are, as he notes in the pizzicato plucked, glockenspiel-coloured, Us All, united as a human race (“Scars we inflict on each other don’t die/But slowly soak into the DNA of us all”). Still, while he sings, “I pray we be free of judgement and shame/Open the vein, let kindness rain”, he admits finding it a struggle to follow Christian precepts “to love them all” when, on the moody, fingerpicked and end of tether sung Orders, featuring marimba, clarinet, saxophones, accordion and dulceola, he’s confronted with “The pastor preaching shades of hate/The self-inflating head of state/The black and blue, the starved for bread/The dread, the red,the better dead/The sweet the vile, the small, the tall”), one of only two numbers to take a directly political approach. The other, featuring Sarah Jarosz on urgent mandolin and celebrated Inuk artist Susan Aglukark singing in her native Inuktitut, is the folksier steady marching rhythm, climate change-themed To Keep The World We Know (“From the tundra to the tropics/Our world’s gone up in flames…Even up north in Iqaluit/Where there’s not a tree for miles/Fire shoots out the kitchen tap/Apocalyptic style/Waters rise, grassland dries/Mother Earth, she weeps/Willful ignorance and greed/Prevail while reason sleeps”) with its call to “think past your bank account/To keep the world we know”. And yet, while “Bank comes down heavy when the mortgage ain’t paid/Cops come down hard on disorder”, on the gentle undulating sway of Into The Now, he remains firm in the belief in a higher power and that “Love trickles down like honey from God”, the number capturing the ambience of Maui where it was written. The same sentiment informs the slow, jazzier love song Push Comes To Shove, where, with Shawn Colvin on harmonies and Jenny Scheinman on violin, he adopts the pragmatic view that “What will go wrong will go wrong/What will go right will go right” but that when “Push comes to shove/It’s all about love”, the lyrics making another climate change reference in “I could sail what’s left of the seven seas/I could swim with the bears where the ice used to be”. With Allison Russell, Buddy Miller and Colin Linden on harmonies and Jim Hoke adding marimba and bass clarinet; the softly sung, melodically lilting, hymnal-like Colin Went Down To The Water is written about a friend from San Francisco who moved to Maui and drowned while Cockburn was visiting there, shortly after sending a ‘welcome to paradise’ voice message. Also penned in Maui but a wild departure from the rest of the album, King Of The Bolero flows like molasses on woozy clarinet and drunken New Orleans horns, a portrait of a “large human being at the back of the bar/Pulling visceral sounds from a no-name guitar”, the image dating back to his high school days and friends talking about an old blues singer with a double chin and pot belly, here deliberately ambiguous as Cockburn sings “It’s not Minnesota Fats or Domino or Waller/Or Arbuckle or anybody painted by Botero”. There’s just one instrumental here, again playing jazzy notes with Haiku, the album coming to a close with, first, Ann and Regina McCrary again on vocals, the clarinet haunted, slow march O Sun By Day O Moon By Night on which he speaks the lyrics, a poem meditating on mortality as he imagines arriving at heaven’s gate, his voice soaring on the refrain “O sun by day o moon by night/Light my way so I get this right/And if that sun and moon don’t shine/Heaven guide these feet of mine/To Glory”), as, the song sounding with echoes of both Mockingbird and Bo Diddley, “Through longing and through pain/Pain brings understanding/Your mistakes will set you free/To sink into the spirit”. With Colvin, Russell, Miller, Jarosz and the McCrarys all on vocals, it ends with the lazy ragtime blues shuffle When You Arrive with its nod to the pandemic (“The chapel is closed for the Covid”) and a wry musing on the trials of getting older (“You’re limping like a three-legged canine/Backbone creaking like a cheap shoe/Dragging the accretions of a lifetime/But you ought to make another mile or two”) but with an uplifting vision that, after shuffling off this mortal coil, “the dead shall sing/To the living and the semi-alive/Bells will ring when you arrive”. There is, however, one other track – simply arranged for acoustic guitar, violin and organ and part spoken like a less gravelly Tom Waits circa The Heart Of Saturday Night; it’s one of the finest songs he’s written; When The Spirit Walks In The Room is an affirmation of faith and expression of that moment when it finds you and how we are all woven from the same fabric “It can appear at any hour/When it comes, it comes in power/You may not walk, you may not see/But you’ll become what you can be/You’re a thread upon the loom/When the spirit walks in the room” because “We play the role we’re made to play/We’re but threads upon the loom/When the spirit walks in the room”. At one point on this terrific album, he sings, “There are people who live to believe/In the good we all can make/There are people who live to believe/In how much they can take”. Bruce Cockburn is one of the former.

Review (No Depression) : Bruce Cockburn has been a revered musical icon in Canada for more than half a century, but despite being championed by the likes of Jerry Garcia and Crosby, Stills & Nash, and being famously called out by Eddie Van aHHalen as the world’s greatest guitarist, he has never caught on in the same way outside of his native country. This lack of mainstream success is probably not something that the 77-year-old songwriter has devoted much thought to; like his contemporaries David Bowie and Bob Dylan, he’s never been one to rest with or follow successful formulas. As a relentlessly creative artist, Cockburn has pursued his very personal and highly accomplished musical visions ever since his debut album was released in 1969. Bruce Cockburn in striped jacked plays guitar onstage Bruce Cockburn (photo by Daniel Keebler) Featuring 11 new songs and one instrumental track that showcases his exemplary guitar playing, O Sun O Moon is Bruce Cockburn’s 38th album and will almost certainly come to be considered one of his best. The opening track, “On a Roll,” is Cockburn’s declaration to his audience that even though he’s old and time waits for no one, he doesn’t want to be counted out yet. An ode to never giving up, it defines the mood of the album, declaring “this is who I am and what I believe” without blush or apology. It sets the stage perfectly for the topical songs such as “Orders,” “Push Come to Shove,” and “To Keep the World We Know” that follow it. Buoyed along by some of the most gorgeous acoustic melodies you’ll ever hear, they pack lyrics that call out global warming, unscrupulous banks, and religious hypocrisy. Cockburn clearly learned a long time ago that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Cockburn’s music is informed by a progressive Christian faith, but he has never been one to proselytize, with his lyrics reflecting his assertion that the love and compassion that are supposed to accompany belief have all but disappeared in the modern world. As with most of his records, the subject matter of O Sun O Moon is balanced between social-political commentary and introspective love songs. As an artist, Cockburn has always worn his heart on his sleeve and has never shied away from highly personal and intimate topics. Sometimes it works. Sometimes, like on the otherwise lovely title track, his phrasing is awkward and the right words seem to elude him. He gets tangled and overstates the obvious, but Cockburn’s unrelenting sincerity, and the undeniable beauty of the music, inevitably come to the rescue. At 77 years of age — well past the three score and ten years allotted to each of us in the Bible — Bruce Cockburn shows no signs of easing up. He is, as he sings on the opening track of O Sun O Moon, clearly “on a roll.”