Ray LaMontagne - Ouroboros review: moments of magnificent intensity

There’s a lot to be said for taking the slow and steady approach. This New England troubadour’s profile has grown on the back of a handful of great albums featuring that distinctive, soulful croak and weatherbeaten, introspective folk-pop songs.

For his sixth album, LaMontagne is guided by My Morning Jacket's Jim James, who as as producer takes some left turns on a record of hazy, loose- limbed, blissed-out sounds that continue down the path LaMontagne explored last time on Supernova with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. Here the fuzzy psych soundscapes tend to be darker and heavier.

With members of MMJ at play, Ouroboros has moments of magnificent intensity (In My Own Way), while making room for effervescent wigouts (The Changing Man, Hey, No Pressure). As LaMontagne notes, you won't hear these songs on the radio, but that's their loss.

[ raylamontagne.com ]