Album Review: McKenzie Eddy "Slow Your Horse Down Son"

What happens when you take a girl performing in a rock band in the Hootie and the Blowfish’s old stomping grounds in South Carolina, then transplant her in New York City and team her up with one of the creators of the now defunct Roc-a-Fella records, perhaps the greatest independent rap label of the last generation. You get McKenzie Eddy’s Slow Your Horse Down Son. McKenzie, who is a former Dame Dash executive assistant, turned record label VP/artist released an LP yesterday that I really can't explain. I take a cold shower after listening to it, and then I listen to it again. When I played it for my dad in his minivan, all he wanted to know was what this girl looked like. My Costa Rican housemate also asked what she looked like, and when I told him that she was a blonde girl, he claimed to love what he was hearing. If I had said she was a 400 pound Asian woman, would his opinion change? Definitely. I have listened to this album probably seven or eight times, and I have yet to finalize my opinion. McKenzie doesn't possess the emotion packed powerful voice that top recording artists use to sell records and inspire people to sing along. McKenzie has the kind of smooth velvety (occasionally screechy) voice that inspires you to smoke a cigarette or throw a beer bottle at your cat.

This album projects the kind of lighthearted darkness found in Wes Anderson films with lyrics featuring outlandish stories and off-color characters. The album kicks off with the title track "Slow Your Horse Down, Son". Take Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots are Made for Walking", add a Sheeshaw and Hookah Man, Fiona Apple the shit out of it, and viola. You have an opening track that musically feels like a psychedelic hayride through an alley full of gypsies, cowboys and corporate lawyers. The second track "Celophane" sounds nothing like the first, opting instead for guitar riffs over a hip hop beat and rapid delivered singing and Walter Camp references. "Bees" follows and slows the pace back down musically, while simultaneously upping the intensity of the trash talking: "Yeah girl you're gonna get stung" OH SNAP!! "Mangoes" is a song not about delicious fruit but instead yet more shit talking aided by rapper GLC. "Cinderella" is another forgetable love gone wrong song, followed by perhaps the highlight of the album "Ice Cream Mountain". This track features slick production of piano and organ melodies backed by a bass heavy beat. McKenzie's vocal ability is showcased best in this setting and Murs gives the strongest showing of all the rapper's on the album. The music video is above and equally turns me on and creeps me out, which is pretty amazing. "What a Life" a jazz influenced track featuring GLC follows and encaptures the emotions of moving to NYC and the pitfalls ("swindlers, hustlers, pleasers, busters, peddlers, lovers,cheats") of an career in entertainment. "

Whether calmly serenading in the Sean O'Connell produced "Your Darkness" or rocking out in the Ski Beatz laced "The Sun", McKenzie shows the kind of diversity as an artist, and flashes of talent that makes you believe that she can survive in the hectic world she vividly describes in her lyrics. Sometimes her voice is stretched beyond her capabilities, and the music production does not set her up to succeed, but McKenzie overcomes these shortcomings with the creativity of her storytelling and brash attitude of her delivery. In the end, the result is an album that occasionally suffers an identity crisis, while at the same time being so personal and multilayered, that it only gets better with successive listens. You can cop this album, from the links below:Get it on Itunes
Get it on Amazon