The Age of Miracles (album)
| The Age of Miracles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Mary Chapin Carpenter | ||||
| Released | April 27, 2010 | |||
| Genre | Folk, Rock, Country | |||
| Length | 50:12 | |||
| Label | Zoë | |||
| Producer | Mary Chapin Carpenter Matt Rollings |
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| Mary Chapin Carpenter chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (63/100) |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Billboard | (favorable) |
| The Boston Globe | (average) |
| Paste | (3.6/10) |
| The Phoenix |  |
| PopMatters |   |
| Q | |
| Slant Magazine | |
| Engine 145 | |
| Under the Radar | |
The Age of Miracles is the eleventh studio album released by American music artist Mary Chapin Carpenter. The album was released on April 27, 2010 on Zoë Records and was produced by Carpenter and Matt Rollings.
The Age of Miracles is Carpenter's third album released under the Zoë record label, and is also her first studio album since The Calling in 2007. The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard Magazine Top Country Albums chart and #28 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
The Age of Miracles consists of twelve tracks of new material, all of which were written solely by Mary Chapin Carpenter. In a recent interview, Carpenter explained the album's thematic significance. She commented that the album's title track reflects on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, while the album's seventh track ("Mrs. Hemingway") is about the first wife of author Ernest Hemingway. She also mentioned that the fifth track "4 June 1989" explains the Tiananmen Square Massacre and its remembrance by Chinese activist Chen Gueng.
The album is generally considered to feature a mix of styles. Cody Miller of PopMatters found that The Age of Miracles contained mainly a mixture of "uptempo numbers and mournful ballads," and that the release was "classic MCC: sober, insightful, whimsical, and beautiful." However, in contrast, Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine commented that the album's production never strays too far from the "pedestrian, coffeehouse blend of hushed acoustic strumming." The album reflects its country roots, with Vince Gill and Alison Krauss performing background vocals on several songs. However, other tracks, such as the ninth song "What You Look For," sound "electric" according to Engine 145 magazine.
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