Anyone that has ever gone through anger and aggression therapy will recognize the sound on Scout Niblett’s fourth record in contrast with the one prior. Last time, on Kidnapped By Neptune, Niblett came unglued as she railed against a lover that had spurned her and fell on the floor and screamed and pounded on the walls, cried her eyes out, came undone and got her shit together. The next step in the progression after that fury is lamentation and introspection—which is where This Fool Can Die Now starts. Crooning so gently and soothingly as to almost be an apology, Niblett trades vocal lines with Will Oldham (aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) while surrounded by music that recreates the vibes of The Cowboy Junkies’ Trinity Sessions in its tenderness and catharsis. From there, Niblett presents herself as damaged goods for the rest of the album—sunk in loose and spare arrangements, the singer only murmurs her ruminations on “Moon Lake” before kicking listeners in the teeth with the over-distorted guitars and wild-eyed glare of “Let Thine Heart Be Warmed”. The rest of the album continues to walk that tenuous line and Niblett falters on both sides of it repeatedly over the course of the album—apologetic whisper to terrifying confrontation—and still hasn’t found resolution by the end. This Fool Can Die Now is where Scout Niblett takes the themes and emotions of alienation and loss to their most unnaturally extrapolated extremes. Not for the faint of heart, we can only sit back, listen and hope that Scout Niblett survives to record again.
