Neil Young – Le Noise

Fantastique

Neil Young is back, and he has no plans of stopping anytime soon. At 64, the legendary rocker returns with Le Noise, his latest in a long line of adventurous records, this time produced by famed producer Daniel Lanois.

Le Noise is Young’s most intimate album to date. With no band, the 8-song album is stripped raw with just Young and his electro/acoustic guitar, taking music to a completely different level to bring one of the most emotionally compelling albums since Ragged Glory or 2000’s Silver & Gold. The match up between Young and Lanois proves to be more than successful. It’s “folk-metal” done right.

Young’s voice and heavily distorted guitar blend in perfectly eerie harmony to fill out a cloud of mystery with psychedelic echos.  While “Walk With Me” and “Sign Of Love” start the album off with a lackluster approach to Young’s folk-metal, the album soon kicks into standout songs “Love and War,” Young’s protest song, and “Hitchhiker,” which dives intimately into Young’s long sorted history. They’re rounded out with “Angry World,” a dark yet relatively optimistic song with matching, rough guitar strings that picks up where the lyrics lay off.

Yet, Le Noise isn’t about the lyrics, it’s about the sound of a man who’s not ready to give up. A man who has overcome years of trials and tribulations yet always seems to find the silver lining and pushes himself, and his music, to new levels.

By Emily Provansal Posted in Reviews Neil Young