Where It Hits You

Description

''Titles never come easy to me, but this one did. Long before I recorded a single note I knew what I'd call it. That name, it was just in the air. Midway through it my wife left me. Just walked out the door...into the arms of younger man. We have kids, you know? Lord, what a mess. I was...well, what's a word lower than devastated? I was sub-devastated. Many of the songs on this record I wrote for her. So what do you do? I had to finish it, but singing those songs, hearing those words over and over, it was quite a trial.''As is often the case with cathartic upheaval, sometimes tribulation forces buried treasure to the surface. This holds true with Where It Hits You, as rich and diverse a record as Jim has ever produced. From the brooding dreamlike opener, ''Chase The Dark Away,'' to the wild eyed stomp of ''Here We Go,'' to the Beefheartesque ''Infinite Mind,'' to the Harvest-era Neil Young ringer ''My Brother's Keeper,'' Where It Hits You finds Jim in full musical stride, effortlessly blending genres and approaches in ways that sometimes boggle the mind. But as White's work has shown over the arc of his career, despite the experimental extremes he recklessly embraces, there's always a cohesive, singular identity that holds the divergent influences together.