Music: Nickel Creek - Why Should the Fire Die?

I've always enjoyed Nickel Creek, though their sound sometimes got tiresome on the first two albums. On those previous outings, the band has shown off their ample talents instrumentally and vocally, but on Why Should the Fire Die? we get to see more of what they can do.

All three members of the band (Chris Thile on mandolin, Sean Watkins on guitar, and his sister Sara on the fiddle) lend equal strength to the album, providing stirring and intriguing melodies and harmonies as well as complicated yet somehow simple arrangements. On the first two albums, Alison Kraus acted as producer--which could provide an explanation for the way the band sounded. This time around, Eric Valentine takes the producer's chair, along with Tony Berg. Valentine has collaborated with acts such as Smashmouth, Queens of the Stone Age, and Joe Satriani, so you can see already that the album might sound a bit different.

After listening to the album numerous times, I can't find a track that I don't enjoy. You get a taste of quite a few genres, though Nickel Creek is often classified as country or bluegrass. They're a hard band to categorize, which is part of what makes them refreshing in today's often-stale music scene.

The album starts off with "When In Rome"--a great intro song with some Celtic undertones and some great harmonies. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's definitely a toe-tapper, and it's a good start to the album. The next track--"Somebody More Like You"--is where we start to see something different. I'm used to hearing happier love songs amid some sad tales from Nickel Creek. But here we get more of a "bitter ex-lover" feel, with muted strings and a few biting lyrics ("I hope you meet someone your height/So you can see eye to eye/With someone as small as you"). From there we go to the mournful and longing "Jealous of the Moon" and the even-more-Celtic-than-the-first-track "Scotch and Chocolate".

With the fifth track, "Can't Complain", Chris Thile shows more with his vocals than we've seen on Nickel Creek albums before. Toward the end of the song, I was surprised to hear some of the grit come out in his voice, and I really enjoyed it. This is also less lyrically typical than what Nickel Creek usually does, about a guy with a warped perception about his relationship with a girlfriend. Next is a solo performance from Sara Watkins with a cover of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow is a Long Time." This is the kind of song that makes a man just stare off into space. Watkins' voice is absolutely haunting.

What I've described thus far doesn't quite make up half of the album. Look for other tracks like "Eveline" and "Best of Luck" for more that you wouldn't expect to hear from this band.

Nickel Creek is close to hitting it big. They're not quite there yet, but they're definitely headed in the right direction. With their immense vocal and instrumental talent, coupled with their songwriting ability (all songs were written by the band with the exception of the Dylan cover), it's only a matter of time. This album isn't perfect, but it's a must-have in my book.

Final Score: 4 cents.