Artisanal roots music from Vermont’s Green Mountains.
Kristina Stykos is a songwriter, musician, recording engineer and producer who has been a torchbearer for the music of the Green Mountain State since the 1980s. Her Pepperbox Studio is tucked away off-grid and off the beaten track at the base of Mount Abraham in Lincoln, Vermont. Stykos has released six albums under her own name, along with a collaboration with the recently deceased Montanan pianist and composer Philip Aaberg. Her Thunder Ridge Records roster, whilst not full of household names, has showcased the skills of many talented Vermonters. Stykos is also one half of The Cousins Project, the other being Steve Mayone. Up until twenty years ago, they were unaware of each other’s existence. All that changed when Stykos attended a Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck performance in Vermont and discovered that the surname of the band’s guitarist, Mayone, was the same as her middle name. Curiosity led to conversation that revealed the pair were not only songwriters, producers, and independent artists on the same musical wavelength, but also related to each other. Their grandparents were siblings who had worked in the family brickmaking company in Upstate New York. Stykos and Mayone’s first collaboration as The Cousins Project, Beautiful Blood, was recorded at Pepperbox Studio and released in 2013.
Child of the Hills, the second helping of The Cousins Project, was also recorded, mixed and produced by Stykos in Vermont. Sharing vocal duties and acoustic and electric guitars, Stykos and Mayone’s instrumental arsenal also includes lap steel, mandolin, mandola, banjo, tenor ukulele and bass. Drummer/percussionist and honorary cousin Jeff Berlin provides the beats. Album opener Green Mountain Moonrise is a gentle instrumental evocation of the local landscape. Second up is a gritty assessment of the present global state of disrepair – This World Is Broken. With her husky timbre, the result of the neurological condition spasmodic dystonia, and use of spoken-word delivery, Stykos’ vocal style is reminiscent of Patti Smith’s. In the self-described slow jam Your Bitter Love, the cousins’ voices are as well matched as a pair of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ mittens. Finger-picking finesse follows in the standout Traveler, a euphonious road song in which Mayone takes the vocal lead. A magical moment of spiritual connection is captured in the meditative And the Love Came Pouring Out. Patrick Ross’ fiddle enters the mix in the jaunty put-down of a former partner in crime, What’d Ya Come Here For. The Greg Brown-inspired Shows to Go Ya is surely best enjoyed with a scoop of that Vermont staple Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia Ice Cream, given its reference to the Grateful Dead song Scarlet Begonias.
A stranded trucker’s lament, The Woods Road, provides a reminder of the perils of Green Mountain rurality. Give It Time has a message of hope for a better future that might be the perfect response to the second track, The World Is Broken. The cousins exercise their right to roam in another standout, Wandering, abandoning the map for a road not taken, enriched by the celtic comfort of Solas founder member Séamus Egan’s low whistle. Mellow as maple syrup, This Green Valley portrays a family reunion that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Mary Chapin Carpenter album. Apple pie is mentioned in the lyrics, and few can resist a slice of Vermont’s official dessert. Apparently, state law requires it to be served “in a good faith effort” with a decent slab of Cheddar cheese, if not a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a glass of milk. The penultimate and title track, Child of the Hills, celebrates the rustic glory of Addison County and is described in the track-by-track song notes as “an elder’s perspective on child-like wonderment”.
The Cousins Project soundscape is rich, rural, resonant and as vibrant as Vermont’s fall foliage. It should be savoured until The Story Tree of the final song has shed its last leaf. The artisanal excellence of Child of the Hills emanates earthy warmth from a state much loved by both powderhounds and leaf peepers.
