The hype-machine betrays us again. Cam, one of the most exciting artists to come out of 2015 after her gold-certified ‘Burning House’, has released her debut full-length LP, and surprise surprise, it isn’t as good as I was hoping, even though I wasn’t expecting 11 ‘Burning Houses’. Similarly to Chris Janson’s debut last year, it is a decent enough record, but failed to live up to its lead single, and whilst they are both good listens, ‘Untamed’, like ‘Buy Me A Boat’ is destined to be forgotten after the initial excitement dies down.
‘Untamed’ starts off with the title track, an upbeat number with a heavy bass-drum beat which doesn’t blend well with Cam’s good-but-fragile vocals. If she had a voice like Carrie Underwood then the production choices on the album would be more understanding, but unfortunately Cam’s vocals, whilst being very good live and on record, are just not powerful enough to fight the pull of the bass.
‘Hungover On Heartache’ is a lot better, and is consequently one of the better songs on the album. With a more subdued backing, this songs suits Cam’s vocals much better, and the encapturing melody complements the mellow subject matter comparing a breakup with a hangover. The chorus is still fairly upbeat though, so the song is not sad by any stretch, and may still be a little loud to play on an actual hangover!
‘Mayday’ is another of the good songs on ‘Untamed’, being more stripped back, fitting Cam’s vocals. I don’t like the chorus much, being a bit repetitive, but the atmosphere of the song is good for Cam, albeit with the ever-present bass-drum back line.
I don’t need to go into detail on ‘Burning House’, because obviously being a well-deserved Grammy-nominated song, it is easily the best song on the album, and is one of the best songs of 2015. Being followed by ‘Cold In California’, another drum-dominated ballad made interesting by the close harmonies of Cam’s backing vocals, is OK. It’s not a bad song by any stretch, but it just doesn’t do anything for me. I find it a bit boring to be honest, and I find the production a bit perplexing, having the ever-present bass-drum bassline on a slow ballad. It doesn’t sit well with me, and this sums up the production on more than a few songs on the album.
Then we rattle through ‘My Mistake’, ‘Runaway Train’ and ‘Half Broke Heart’ which are all decent songs that were overshadowed by ‘Burning House’ on her self-titled EP, but can now gain more recognition since they overshadow many of the extra songs on the LP.
‘Want It All’ is a really solid 100% pop song and I think it is one of the stronger songs on the album. Having a catchy melody with several layers keeps me interested, and the strong clap-effect backing fits well, keeping the song moving forward. This is the kind of upbeat song that Cam should be doing, not ‘Untamed’ earlier in the album.
‘Country Ain’t Never Been Pretty’ is the sassiest song on the album. I like the lyrics, and it is one of the few songs on the album that could actually be called ‘country’, but I can’t get over the fact that Cam puts on a strong Southern accent, even though she is from California, and has not got an accent in real life. This is one of my real pet-peeves, and something that I have burned artists like Thomas Rhett for doing in the past. I like Cam a lot, but please don’t try and be an artist who pretends to be something they are not in the attempt to be ‘country’.
‘Untamed’ ends with the strongest song ‘Village’. This is what I was expecting from Cam, just solid, emotional songwriting and stripped back instrumentation, playing to her strengths and what made her so exciting in the first place. The lyrics are inspired by the death of a friend and the recovery, with powerful lyrics like “Your whole heart’s a village/Everyone you love has built it/And I’ve been working there myself/That’s where I’ll be, in the front row seat/To watch you live your life well’’. This is a wonderful song, with a haunting melody, and seals the fate of an average album, with some real high points.
Please don’t leave this review with the impression that ‘Untamed’ is a bad album, because it’s not. There are no ‘bad’ songs here, and if I didn’t know that Cam could write songs like ‘Burning House’ and ‘Village’ then it would have been praised much more. Part of my problem with it is that in her EP, you could really get a sense of who Cam was, whereas ‘Untamed’ feels a little incoherent as an album and I don’t get a lot of Cam’s awesome character in many of the songs. Some people have commented that it is a case of a pop singer/songwriter trying to make it big in country, and I have to agree with them. Marketed as a pop artist, Cam would be respected as a sincere writer, but never rise to fame, whereas in country there is more of a chance of making the big-time, even though I detect little of ‘country’ in many of the songs.
I’m disappointed in ‘Untamed’, but that is because I had such high hopes. I still love Cam, but I need more please.
Originally posted here.
