Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
Cold Roses

THE REVIEW

Having abandoned the distorted "clichés" of Rock'n'Roll and the poignant and beautiful wintery atmospheres of "Love Is Hell," Ryan Adams returns with a double album and a new group (The Cardinals) to offer us the music most congenial to him, that of alternative country, of which he himself was a prophet with his Whiskeytown.
Ryan is a great and prolific songwriter, but what is most surprising is the high quality he manages to maintain with his compositions, despite the stylistic changes he is naturally inclined to tackle. "Cold Roses" is an album without any drop in tone; it remains intense throughout the 18 songs (plus a bonus track), with a formidable band in terms of simplicity and atmosphere that perfectly supports Adams, who in this album has a more powerful and beautiful vocal presence than ever.

The album exudes a particular charm, due to Adams' love for 70s American music (especially that of Gram Parsons) and the ability of the songs to be highly believable, suspended between light and darkness, timeless, while painting scenarios of imposing mountains or soft and fertile plains, and still winds, breezes, sweet illusions, confusions and disappointments, paths framed by blossoming cherry trees, near strawberry fields of Beatles memories, unusual beauties threatened by misfortune-bringing and paranoia-inducing crows, the day, the night, friends, loves, and again roses, roses of all colors, red, yellow, white, black, blue... dried roses, plastic roses, all kinds of roses, but especially ice roses, cold and sad.