“I’m just looking through the rubble, trying to find out who we were,” Adams sings on the opening track, as though explaining the new tone his album has taken. “Dirty Rain” is one of the few tracks that find him looking back at the past, saying good-bye to it wistfully and without rancor. The title tracks finds him moving closer to his bluesy side, with strident piano loops trading off with the clashing guitars. “Her eyes were indigo and the cats were all calico,” he belts in his mutes wail. “Come Home” is a simple and beautiful love song about the little things that make a home. “As the years grow longer, I’ll be here by your side,” he promises. “Rocks” slows light around a delicately syncopating percussion and guitar riff. Adams voice soars high across the chorus, finding peace in lines like “After all these years I am not rocks in the river.” “I have been waiting here for you all night,” he states simple in “Do I Wait.” “If you’re not going to show, we’re not going to fight,” he concludes. “Chains of Love” is one of the weaker tracks on a very strong album. It weaves somewhat more original thoughts around the triteness of the central metaphor. “Invisible Riverside” has a darker opening and underlying melody, reticent of mid-eighties Hank Williams Junior, with more polish. “I didn’t travel far, but my feet were moving,” Adams quips over this backdrop. “Save Me” harkens back to the old Ryan Adams, softly whispering for help in the early morning hours, trying to escape from he pain. “If you’re so strong can you shelter the weak,” Adams challenges in “Kindness.” After all, he concludes, “kindness don’t ask for much but an open mind.” “I don’t remember were we wild and young,” he croons on “Lucky Now,” “are we really who we used to be.” This song provides a closing sentiment to the questions found in “Dirty Rain.” As he closes in on the end of the album, Adams has not found the answers so much as the ability to stand in wide eyed wonder and who he grew up to be. The album closes with “I Love You But I Don’t Know What To Say.” It is a love song as only Ryan Adams could right it, a wedding vow of sorts, brimming with feeling and shimmering vocals.
It has been a long time since Ryan Adams has released an album. Sure there have been a few re-issues of older albums, but three years is a long dry spell for an artist who used to release two and three albums a year. Ashes & Fire is a clear and definitive sign that Ryan Adams is back. Ashes & Fire finds Adams returned to form with stripped down, lovely music with sweet high harmonies courtesy, in this case, of Norah Jones and Mandy Moore. However, there is also a new Ryan Adams on this album, a calmer and happier one. Fans have long wondered what would happened if Ryan Adams were to get his life together and be happy. This album answers that question, and the answer is a reward for all fans of Ryan Adams’ music.
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