Gary Louris celebrates love and the past on Jayhawks’ latest.
Forty years on from their debut, a quarter century from the release of Smile and 6 years after their last record XOXO, The Jayhawks return with something of a sense of turning circles. Gone is the songwriting collaboration of the last album and in its place a group of 11 songs written by frontperson Gary Louris, albeit two are co-writes. Back is Smile producer Bob Ezrin, who jumped in when he heard Louris was looking for an outside producer.
Louris moved to Canada some time ago, and Ezrin’s involvement generated an invitation to record in Toronto at Canterbury Music Studio. The album was created by The Jayhawks core four: Louris (vocals, guitars), Marc Perlman (bass, mandolin), Karen Grotberg (keyboards, vocals) and Tim O’Reagan (drums, percussion, vocals). They were supplemented by Todd Lumley (accordion and harmonium) on two songs, Mike Johnson on pedal steel on another two and Ezrin himself on ukulele on one song.
While the album title references an actual location in Dundas, Ontario, Sanctuary Park is also a fictional place where distant memories re-emerge, childhood friends from years prior start speaking again, and teenage lovers start lives that their older selves are determined to renew.
The album arrives on a flurry of pop harmonies on bouncy oh-oh-ohs. Keeping Our Heads Above Water continues in a poppy vein with some lovely, harmonised oohs and Grotberg’s piano grounding the music. The song itself feels quite nostalgic, harking back to younger days. Kingston Girl is very much in the present, the girl being Louris’ wife Stephanie. The lyric reflects on the challenges of relationships at a distance, especially in a pandemic. Musically, the song is unmistakably Jayhawks, with Lumley’s accordion adding to the Canadian feel and with a classic guitar break from Louris.
Mr Lincoln is written from the perspective of someone in the orchestra pit the night of Lincoln’s assassination. The melody and elements of the harmonies evoke The Beatles’ White Album. The next track, Hands On The Wheel, opens with unaccompanied harmonies before locking into a descending bass line that nudged this listener towards Waiting For The Sun. Johnson’s pedal steel evokes the earlier Jayhawks as well, while Louris’s vocals celebrate his relationship with Stephanie.
Leap of Faith, the side one closer, has the characteristics of a bar singalong complete with barrelhouse piano. Lumley’s accordion and harmonium add to the effect. It probably works better live than it does on the record.
American Midnight, which introduces side 2, is Louris’ view of his home country from the perspective of his exile across the border. The lyric mixes hope, despair, disappointment, idealism and resignation as he lays out his reaction to what his home country has become. A “how long, how long” question nods to Neil Young. Next up, we get Always And A Day with a slightly funky riff which may have you thinking Richie Furay. The song is another celebration of Louris’ true love. The funkiness is supplemented with a bluesy harmonica while Louris rips out a classic guitar solo.
The title track has a tight beat, flowing guitar chords and classic Jayhawks’ harmonies in the chorus. Louris guitar snakes through a tale of his wife’s growing up in Ontario. He manages to convey a sense of time and place despite telling someone else’s story. Louris gets back to base with Familiar Strangers, telling his own teenage story. Apparently inspired by hearing from old classmates, he started thinking about what happened to them all and inevitably back to how things used to be.
It’ll Be Alright Tonight is another song dedicated to Stephanie and embedded in the comfort and mutual support of a secure relationship. Johnson’s pedal steel adds some colour to the otherwise unmemorable music. Louris describes thealbum’s closer,Rowing The Boat,as “a children’s song about embracing our differences”, and the intimate, acoustic-led performance reinforces the folkie idealism at its core.
Overall, Sanctuary Park is very much in the vein of The Jayhawks’ canon of the last 10 years, heavily dependent on the quality of individual songs to make it genuinely distinctive and reliant on the quality and history of the singing and playing to lift it beyond the less compelling compositions. It’s a record that will likely please existing fans without drawing in many new ones. Solid and fun, and in these times it’s nice to hear Louris sharing his own love and happiness.
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