Album Review: Keb’ Mo’, ‘The Breakdown’
When our lives break down — emotionally, physically, spiritually — we can either be swallowed up in the fractures, losing ourselves in abysmal gaps of hopelessness and despair, or we can build a different life out of those broken pieces.
On ‘The Breakdown,’ Keb’ Mo’ weathers his personal challenges — life-saving heart surgery, divorce — by breaking down his songs to their simplest units, so all but two of the tracks on the album feature only Keb’ Mo’ singing over his acoustic guitar.
On the foot-stomping opening track, “Fussing and Fighting,” Keb’ Mo’ lays his smooth vocals over layers of his National Steel guitar, producing a soulful, introspective take on the ragged reasons people fall in and out of love. No matter how deeply two people once loved each other, he reflects in the song, when the fussing and fighting doesn’t stop, maybe it’s time to move on. Bright jazz chords illumine “Every Step of the Way” as the singer testifies to his gratitude for every step he takes, no matter where the road leads him. The verses bear a sonic resemblance to England Dan and John Ford Coley’s “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight.”
The thumping country blues ballad “They Don’t ‘Em Like They Used To (feat. Take 6)” delivers a testimony to the strength and equality of women in a world that far too often makes them third-class citizens. The gently swaying “More Yesterdays” embraces the beauty of life’s small moments: “Every day I count my blessings/ Do a little less second guessing/ This life and every breath you take is borrowed.”
Swinging chords drive the defiant “We Make Love,” which reminds us that humans make love, peace, and compassion and not simply the material goods—cell phones, laptops, data centers—with which the world is consumed. On the hand-clapping gospel affirmation, “Hand It Over,” the Soweto Gospel Chorus joins Keb’ Mo’ and testifies that the best way to unburden yourself is to hand over your troubles to God and “get down on your knees and pray.” The album closes with the gentle and spacious folk blues ballad “One Step Away,” which counsels living a day at a time.
On ‘The Breakdown’ Keb’ Mo’ opens his heart, revealing and working through his own struggles in spare and intimate songs that resonate emotionally with us.
