Justin Rutledge - Islands (Album Review)

Justin Rutledge has put out a steady stream of critically acclaimed but somewhat under-noticed albums since his 2003 debut.  Eighteen years on, Islands is – at just nine songs – a lean retrospective of stripped-back, acoustic versions, alongside two new tracks.  Few artists possess Rutledge’s poetic lyrical flair and even fewer can boast a career of such a consistently high quality so, for the uninitiated, Islands could be the perfect stepping stone to the mainland of his back catalogue.   

Recorded over just three days with Aaron Comeau and Tom Juhas contributing the barest of support via piano and guitar respectively, Rutledge uses the album as an opportunity for “shaking hands with the people I used to be”, as he revisits songs from his past albums, viewing each as a separate chapter in his life.  Rutledge hasn’t drastically reworked his material here (if it ain’t broke…) but the exposed settings in which the songs find themselves heighten their sense of fragility and intimacy.  This is saying something, as fragile intimacy is Justin Rutledge’s stock in trade.  The tunes, ordinarily lightly flecked with country and Americana flourishes, retain their earthy, acoustic spirit but, being more lightly dressed, come closer to the listener.     

Not being keen on the idea of a streamed show, this is the closest I’ve been to the tingle of a live performance in over a year.  However, as I close my eyes and ‘Come Summertime’ unfolds on my headphones, I’m easily able to transport myself to a tiny candlelit venue where Rutledge is holding a rapt audience still.  This is really how the record is best experienced; as a naturalistic but hyperreal close-up.  The track, from 2006, sits comfortably alongside the breezier ‘Good Man’, which appeared on 2019’s Passages LP, before the regretful ‘This Is War’ (also from 2006) rears up moodily, with all the sting of its younger self.  The hint of optimism in ‘Out Of The Woods’ – the sole representative from 2013’s Valleyheart album – is perhaps something to cling to but, littered as it is with ominous imagery, we can’t get fully comfortable until the arrival of ‘Federal Mail’, the whimsical lilt of which gives our minds a moment to wander; it’s a fully instrumental redrawing from the 2003 debut, No Never Alone, that has lost its voice but – thankfully – none of its original charm. 

The first of Island’s new offerings, ‘Nautical Disaster’, serves as a coda to Daredevil, Rutledge’s 2014 album of Tragically Hip cover versions.  The song is a fitting inclusion here as it wasn’t featured on Daredevil but is a staple of Rutledge’s live set.  The band are an important early influence, as he notes, “in many ways, I owe my life as a songwriter to The Hip.  As a teenager, their songs empowered me to pick up the guitar and instilled in me the strength of the written (and sung) word.” 

The pairing of ‘Alberta Breeze’ and ‘St Peter’ is both breathtaking and inspired.  The two songs bookend 2008’s stunning Man Descending LP and are, in many ways, quintessential Rutledge pieces; full of yearning, gentle wit and his trademark rhyming couplets.  Closing the record is a singalong mainstay of Justin’s live show, ‘Jellybean’, making its first appearance on record.   

For the diehard fan, there will doubtless be disappointment by way of omission on this collection (2016’s East and 2010’s The Early Widows are both overlooked) but there’s always hope for a future volume of revisits.  For the stranger, Islands allows for the discovery of Rutledge’s manifold talents in the most naturalistic setting possible; as if you stumbled into a bar and he was there, doing what great singer songwriters have always done.  Until we can enjoy such simple pleasures again, albums like this are the next best thing. 

Review by Rich Barnard

Islands will be released March 26th via Outside Music

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