A musically fun, if sometimes lyrically dark, fifth full-length from Boston string band Grain Thief.
One of the benefits of reviewing albums for AUK is getting to hear artists that would almost certainly have gone unnoticed but for the combination of them submitting the record to the site, then its chance assignment. First question in this case: Who are Grain Thief? That one is easily answered. They are a string band out of Boston (the one in Massachusetts) who, like many of their contemporaries, walk a line somewhere between bluegrass, old-time and folk. “House Of The Dog” is the band’s fifth album and follows four years after their last studio release “Something Sour, Something Sweet” (2021).
Grain Thief comprises Patrick Mulroy (guitar, vocals), Zach Meyer (mandolin, vocals), Michael Harmon (bass, vocals), Tom Farrell (resonator guitar), and Alex Barstow (fiddle). They may not have cut a studio album for four years, but they have been busy touring, working and being with family as well as songwriting in any spare moments and spaces. “House Of The Dog” was largely tracked at Harmon’s studio in Princeton, MA. “We have made records there throughout the years, so it feels like a good home base in which to hunker down and focus,” explains Mulroy. The record was co-produced by Brad Bensko, who specialises in analogue recording and production.
The record begins at a fair tick with ‘54 Miles To Empty’, a song driven by the bass and guitar rhythms while the mandolin and fiddle intertwine sweetly. The pace slows a little in the bridge before picking up again as the singer tells of a journey in the fog and offering to give up everything else just to see his love tonight. The omens aren’t great – “54 miles to empty, 58 miles to go” but he’s “got 2 dozen reasons why I’m not gonna let you go”. ‘Here We Go Again’ rocks in with a bouncy bass line and a nice fiddle while the lyric lays out a bittersweet version of life on the road.
‘Walk In The Rain’ arrives jauntily and is clearly fiddle-led, although the mandolin takes off in the instrumental break. The vocal is mixed a bit low on the song. No issues on that with ‘Moving Pictures’ with its real old-time feel. All the while, the singer interweaves a movie story with episodes that might hint at real life as a “tragedy movie starring you and me”. ‘This One Right’ switches back into danceable territory this time with guitar and mandolin taking centre stage while the fiddle provides a melody around them. ‘Jackson’s Retreat” is a cracking instrumental which will surely make the journey to flip over to side two worthwhile. The whole band are really going at it; folk clubs worldwide would be clapping along hard.
The following ‘Heartbreak And Red Wine’ lives up to the label on the bottle as the narrator sees his love gone, and, while he entertains a brief moment of hope, he wises up pretty quickly. The extended chorus outro probably feels good live as a sing-along, but drags a bit on record. There’s a bluesy feel to ‘Happy Road’ with a vocal giving a hint of gospel. Any song named ‘Methadone Mile’ is designed to prick up interest. It jumps straight in with both feet and some excellent fiddle. The story arc, though, is even darker than the title implies, describing lives being ruined on an industrial scale: “Got sunken eyes and drunken smiles, we’re getting down to Methadone Mile”.
‘Tapawingo’, meanwhile, has an interesting backstory. “[Harmon] was working at a nonprofit called Avaloch Farm in Boscawen, NH last year, and we thought it could be cool to record an instrumental track live in their big barn: “Tapawingo.” We opened the barn to the outside while recording to get a cooler vibe going, and there was a tractor cutting hay across the field while we recorded. Listen hard and you might be able to hear it”. After the darkness of the preceding tune, the sun shines through on this one with its laid-back feel and relaxed playing.
Album closer ‘Champagne Misery’ describes a home abandoned by his lover who also seems to have cleaned out the larder and the drinks cabinet, leaving him with only ‘champagne and misery’ while ‘her perfume led the way out of my front door’. Whatever else, Grain Thief do abandonment well.
“House Of The Dog” is an enjoyable listen which will appeal to anyone who enjoys string bands with harmonies. It’s a fun listen, whose 38 and a half minutes flash right past.
