Backup singers can really impact the DNA of a song, and not always for the better. Take Lefty Frizzell’s 1950 classic “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time”. In its original format, it was a bare bones country standard typical of the Grand Ole Opry’s golden age: fiddle, pedal steel, Lefty’s voice, and not much else. Then, in 1959, he released a new, re-recorded version of the song on The One and Only Lefty Frizzell. It sounded overtly glossy thanks in part to a saccharine choir of backup vocalists. The additional voices added needless commercial sheen, only serving to mar and obscure the original’s charm.
Tim Cohen wrote the songs from River of Souls with backup singers in mind. He’s said that the only thing that separates his Magic Trick material from his work with the Fresh & Onlys are the two bands’ personnel. And he’s not overstuffing his latest album with a full chorus; he works with two female vocalists: Noelle Cahill and Alicia Vanden Heuvel. They provide this album’s primary appeal—Cohen’s baritone counterbalanced by two soft female voices. Sure, he could’ve handed “The Store” over to Wymond Miles, Kyle Gibson, and Shayde Sartin, but by using Cahill and Heuvel’s voices instead, the song’s guitar-centric momentum is somewhat softened. And ultimately, this is a very soft, easily handled album. The idea isn’t to add rough edges; just beauty and sheen.
The lead guitars on the album provided by Tom Heyman often stay clear of any raw, ragged garage punk sounds in favor of a tone more similar to Mark Knopfler’s. There are tambourines and unassuming melodies. As Cohen sings “Come Inside”, the backup vocalists come through with a mild, warm echo. This music is meant to be pleasant and palatable, so with that songwriting goal in mind, the additional voices are well-suited to the material.
But for an album that’s already plenty smooth, Cohen goes all in with his lyrics. The album title River of Souls does nothing to steer the listener away from the words “adult contemporary.” It’s close enough in name to Billy Joel’s 1993 album River of Dreams and is the name of a 1993 Dan Fogelberg album. And the song’s messages consistently lean toward the theatrical. On “You Have to Do”, over a languid organ and some “doo-wahhh” harmonies, Cohen offers a bunch of “wisdom” regarding how a man should keep a woman happy. It plays almost like a scene in a mid-20th century musical: A man, intimidated by his love for a woman, asks his wise friend/brother/father for advice. Then, the savvy narrator (Cohen) sings about how his friend should take action, and of course, two women wander into the frame just in time to sing some well-placed harmonies over his instructions.
With buoyant synths on “Salvation”, with Cohen’s soft moan and the echoing harmonica of “Beloved One”, River of Souls is breezy listening. Right when things start to get a little more bold with the soulful stomp, harmonies, and horns of “My World”, the song dissipates into a puddle of meandering guitars that aim for freeform but wind up feeling more like hotel lobby music. “We like pretty girls,” Cahill and Heuvel airily sing on “Crazy Teeth” over a continuous mid-tempo shuffle that would feel aesthetically appropriate in a transitional “riding from one town to the next” scene of an old western movie. It’s not a cool sounding album by any stretch, but even in the canon of dad rock, it doesn’t stand up. The songs become repetitive, and though the harmonies are well-crafted and the melodies are lovely, there aren’t enough moments that demand attention. After a while, all the sounds on River of Souls run together, a little bland and verging on formless.
