Ray LaMontagne – Long Way Home (2024) [FLAC 24bit/48kHz]

Ray LaMontagne – Long Way Home (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 31:35 minutes | 361 MB | Genre: Rock, Country Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Liula Records

Recorded and produced by Ray LaMontagne in (fittingly) his home studio, Long Way Home is the follow-up to 2020’s critically acclaimed album Monovision. Of the album, LaMontagne says, “Every song on Long Way Home is in one way or another honoring the journey. The languorous days of youth and innocence. The countless battles of adulthood, some won, more often lost. It’s been a long hard road, and I wouldn’t change a minute.”Nine records in, fans can feel pretty solid about what they’re going to get from singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne. Long Way Home doesn’t veer from that familiar path—sincere, New England to the bone, and sometimes sad, sad, sad—but there are some pleasing curves to keep it from feeling exactly like the last album or the one before that. “Step Into Your Power” is soulful and groovy in the vein of Al Green, and the lyrics are as upbeat as the music: “If you want it/ You can have it/ All you gotta do/ Is just reach right out and grab it,” LaMontagne sings, sounding incredibly enthused about empowerment. And hell, why not see the glass as half full? After all, he’s got the sublime Secret Sisters—Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle—on board; the three also collaborated on “All the Ways” from the siblings’ 2024 album Mind, Man, Medicine. They channel alchemy again on “I Wouldn’t Change a Thing,” an easy, Americana country shuffle with sweet steel guitar and a no-regrets vibe. You can hear a familiar Van Morrison influence—particularly in LaMontagne’s vocal pacing and temperament—on songs like “Yearning,” burnished with rich, warm organ and resonant acoustic guitar. “My Lady Fair,” meanwhile, channels feel-good Morrison with vibrant drums, lively organ and joyous horns as LaMontagne promises to shout his love from the mountaintops. (It’s hard to imagine this man shouting, but let’s take him at his word.) “And They Called Her California,” meanwhile, weaves in moving, clear harmonies, contemplative harmonica, and a punchy bass line for echoes of Levon Helm. Rhythmic “La De Dum, La De Da” feels almost spiritual, focusing on breathy, spectral vocalizations rather than actual words. And instrumental “So, Damned, Blue” flows right into “Long Way Home,” which pours out as languid as honey. Set to dreamy strings, this is about as “Ray LaMontagne” as Ray LaMontagne gets: the kind of deeply romantic ballad that, all sadness aside, has made him a favorite for wedding first dances. – Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist:

1-1. Ray LaMontagne – Step Into Your Power (03:28)
1-2. Ray LaMontagne – I Wouldn’t Change A Thing (03:51)
1-3. Ray LaMontagne – Yearning (04:03)
1-4. Ray LaMontagne – And They Called Her California (03:57)
1-5. Ray LaMontagne – La De Dum, La De Da (02:43)
1-6. Ray LaMontagne – My Lady Fair (03:40)
1-7. Ray LaMontagne – The Way Things Are (04:03)
1-8. Ray LaMontagne – So, Damned, Blue (01:46)
1-9. Ray LaMontagne – Long Way Home (04:01)

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