Amy Ray: Stag : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Most solo outings just reinforce what we already know about an artist, but Stag, the coming-out party for Amy Ray, takes any acoustic-pop expectations folks might have of the longtime Indigo Girl and dropkicks them a half-mile down the road. Angry, bold, pointed and eclectic as hell, Stag suggests that Nirvana and Sleater-Kinney are just as important to Ray as Simon and Garfunkel. She covers familiar ideological turf here, but her assaults on sexism, prejudice and general hate-mongering take on a distinctly personal spin, whether packed in brooding, atmospheric pop ("Measure Of Me") or guitar-blazing missives that recall Neil Young ("On Your Honor"). The embittered punk diatribe "Lucystoners," which decries rock's "boys club" mentality by pinning the tail on the editor/publisher of a certain long-running music magazine is the sure attention-getter here, but raucous Appalachian folk ("Johnny Rottentail") and a surprising, tender Elliott Smith-style heartbreaker ("Lazyboy") help Stag strike a balance that makes it more than just an eye-popper. (DAVID PEISNER)