Zac Brown Band - The Owl
The restlessness of the band continues to push the Zac Brown Band in new creative directions
The Zac Brown Band have lived a charmed and interesting musical life and their sixth studio album, The Owl, is both a natural progression and continued experimentation. The Atlanta band originally kept things fairly straight forward and found grace and poise in their brand of Americana-fused country music. Their 2008 debut album The Foundation came across as nearly flawless and much of the music on it was free of sounds synonymous with certain decades. Instead, great songs like "Highway 20 Ride", their cover of "Jolene", and (of course), the irrepressible "Chicken Fried", sound timeless. But this perpetually restless band has shown that their love of music from all genres has kept them continuously finding new canvases in which to paint on. While it's true that they will always ply their trade with an underlying backbone rooted in more traditional American country music, they've shown that since 2015's Jekyll + Hyde that they're quite happy and comfortable exploring a multitude of genres from pop to dance, from rock to, strangely, metal.
The results were mostly positive but there were the occasional clunkers too. Songs like the jazzy, big band "Mango Tree" and the Chris Cornell alternative "Heavy is the Head" proved a little esoteric for the record. It showed the band's more experimental side, and was a precursor to the vastly different musical terrain they would go on the explore. (On a side note, I saw them on the Jekyll + Hyde tour and they played full, faithful covers of songs like Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name", which was weird, to say the least). On The Owl, they haven't quite stopped exploring and at times, the results are mixed. The album's biggest offenders are the electronic/R&B hybrid "OMW" (co-written by Skrillex, ugh) and the hip-hop/country-pop infused "God Given". The latter comes off the same way Brad Paisley's "Accidental Racist" did on his Wheelhouse album: not good.
It's no surprise that best moments on The Owl are when the band tap into their roots and return to more organic country music they showcased on their earlier work. The album lights up with a homeliness and good-natured energy during tracks like "Shoofly Pie" and "Me and the Boys in the Band". Both take cues from more traditional country music, an as expected, the results are still fantastic. The album's apex is perhaps the quietest, most introspective moment. The album closes with the single "Leaving Love Behind", and like previous Zac Brown Band tracks like "Quiet Your Mind", "Colder Weather", and "Goodbye In Her Eyes", the song is a powerfully serene and poignant effort. It's mostly just Zac Brown, his voice, and a piano- and like it's done before, the combination is a moving gospel of Brown's ability to translate reflections of life into wonderment in song.
The restlessness of the band continues to push the Zac Brown Band in new creative directions that will ultimately alienate older fans and listeners who most want to hear great country music. However, the band's ability to always draw influence from their roots (songs like "The Woods" and "Need This" all bounce and sway with pop rhythms, but clearly do not forget their more traditional lineage) keeps the majority of the album grounded. It doesn't quite reach the same heights as The Foundation or Uncaged did, but it hasn't lost its way by any means- it's just taken a few creative and experimental detours. The bones are here and they're still good.