Our latest Short Cuts, a monthly feature where AUK casts a brief eye and ear on several albums we’ve received recently which just didn’t make the cut for a full review. Like most major music websites we can’t mention every album we get sent but we reckon the picks below deserve a nod. Click on the links to hear a song.
The first offering this month is from Luke Callen, a laconic singer songwriter whose third release, ‘Also Going Nowhere’ is a mighty fine listen. Take a pinch of John Prine, add some Ian Noe and the merest hint of Ramsey Midwood, then stir in a swell band and you have a fine blend which is just perfect for listening to on a lazy sunny day. All 11 songs on the album allow Callen to stake a claim to be a successor to the above named acts whether he is singing about rural idylls or blood stained history. ‘Clementine‘ is a wonderful portrait of coal mining in North Minnesota and ‘Lake Street Hustle’ is a vivid capture of the perils of drug deals going wrong. Relax with the soothing groove of ‘Fishing Song’ and prepare to be delighted by the boho road trip which is ‘Wolves Of New York’.
To call an album pleasant is probably too damn it with faint praise but Pierce Crask’s ‘Rising River’ is indeed a pleasant listen with echoes of classic singer songwriters on numbers such as ‘Butterfly Song’ and ‘Sparkle & Shine‘. The main problem is that the album is just too polite, too polished. When Crask straps on his harmonica and gets his slide guitar out as on the bluesy ‘Whose Secrets’ he gets more interesting but overall there’s little here which stands out.
Casey Neill & The Norway Rats, a band from the Pacific north west (our monthly Portland quotient filled then) are, quite quietly, a bit of a supergroup. Neill is a sometime member of The Minus Five and the band include Jenny Conlee of the Decembrists and Chet Lyster of the Eels while Scott McCaughey of The Minus Five and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck appear on one of the tracks on ‘Sending Up Flares’. R.E.M. seem to be Neill’s template on much of the album although it’s clear he’s no Michael Stipe. Nevertheless, the album does capture some of the allure of early R.E.M., a good example being ‘How Beautiful Am I’ which lyrically is spot on but which is a bit heavy handed in its arrangement. ‘Meteor Shower’ follows a similar course but with more success but when Neill ventures into stranger territory as on ‘The Stars Unseen’, an odd little ditty which is reminiscent of Sparklehorse where he really shines.
Listening to ‘Chance And Time’, a posthumous album from James Varda is a lesson on how brief one’s time on the planet might be – there but for the grace of god (or whoever) go I. Anyhow, Varda was a promising singer songwriter who released four albums in his lifetime (he died in 2015) and this reissue of his last album is a very limited edition. It’s bucolic English folk music, laden with autumnal hues, hushed vocals and rippling guitars. Midway between Nick Drake and Roy Harper (whose son Nick plays guitar on some of the songs) along with a touch of the doomed romanticism of Momus, it’s quite glorious at times. The haunting ‘Only Love’ with its excellent piano and strings arrangement can take your breath away while the limpid ‘Let My Place’ with its burbling double bass is a most intimate listen. Despite its wonderfully filigreed folk rock delivery, ‘The Doctor Spoke’ is an almost unbearable listen as Varda dissects his cancer diagnosis candidly and with some bravery. Although it might seem slight to mention the quality of the recording amidst the reality of Varda’s then forthcoming passing the songs here pulse with a life of their own. ‘Beside The Sea‘ especially is an immersive listen with every nook and cranny of the guitar, bass and piano captured perfectly.
We raved somewhat in last month’s Shortcuts about Dusty Wright’s retrospective collection, ‘Songs Vol. 1′ but we didn’t expect to have another album to review in time for this column. However Dusty has sent us his latest release ‘Dusted Off’, a nine song set of cover versions of some of his favourite songs and it’s another winner. As he says in the liner notes,” Most of them are deconstructed and interpreted in my style. I do not subscribe to rote readings of classic songs” so we get recognisable songs suitably rearranged to suit the Dusty style. The most radical reworking is his take on The Monkees’‘(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone‘ which is given a Paisley Underground like psychedelic makeover while Steve Stills’ ‘4+20′ sounds here as if Tim Buckley had written it. There’s a delightful version of Zevon’s ‘Carmelita’ and the one cover new to us is a stomping blues delivery of ‘High Heels Are Dangerous’, originally by the Kent, Ohio band 15-60-75 (which included Chrissie Hynde’s brother) which comes across with a Dave Alvin like blast.
Brooks Williams is one of those dependable singer songwriters, the kind who have a trademark of quality stamped on every release and live show. ‘Diamond Days’ is his first solo release in four years (and follows on his very affecting album with the late Rab Noakes). An American who has made the UK his home, Williams is equally at ease singing about American frontiers as he is about the urban grit of ‘London Road‘. While he tackles Dylan (on ‘Nettie Moore’) and Tom Waits (on ‘Pony’) quite successfully his post civil war song ‘Gone And Done It Now’ is the standout track on the album. We need to acknowledge Williams’ tribute to Rab Noakes on ‘Anniesland’, the area of Glasgow where Rab lived most latterly. It’s clever as Williams adapts a spiritual hymn for the song, acknowledging Rab’s love of the American south.
Jim Byrne’s a well known figure on the Glasgow music scene and has been since his punk rock days although by now he’s settled into a very comfortable and warm persona, a bit of a crooner with a very romantic sense of the golden days of pop (as evidenced by his work with The Bear Brothers). On ‘A Scottish Child From The 1960s’, his latest album, Byrne places his faith in the restorative qualities of love, family, friendships and nature and none more so than on the elegant Presley like ballad ‘My Sweet Maria’. There’s a touch of Leonard Cohen on ‘Don’t You Know I’m Innocent’ while ‘Heart Made Of Gold’ has a definite whiff of latter day Dylan in its lyrics and delivery. Nevertheless Byrne is never in thrall to writers such as those as he delivers delightful homilies such as ‘If You’ll Be Mine’ and the utterly wonderful waltz of ‘Take My Heart’ (brilliantly played by Byrne’s ensemble). Best of all is the David Lynch like mysteriousness of ‘Love Breaks In Many Ways‘ with its fractured guitar breaks, pizzicato strings and faded pop glory.
Red Sammy have graced AUK’s review pages a couple of times before but on listening to their latest album ‘Holy Fluorescent Light’ they seem to have moved on from introspective songs into a much looser vibe with the songs somewhere between Lou Reed, the erstwhile jangle of the likes of Nikki Sudden and the existential angst of Dan Stuart. The songs are claustrophobic despite the jangle, the band squeezed tight, as if playing in an imagined patchouli scented garret. It’s a winning formula especially if you pine for bands which feature neurasthenic singers with a nasal whine. As such, Adam Trice fits the bill and he performs his role quite excellently on songs such as ‘I Worry Sick About You‘ and the last chance saloon sing-along which is ‘Last Year’. As befits all such garret singers, Trice admires literary figures as on ‘Ernest And Bukowski’, a fabulously downbeat number which features some sweet guitar soloing.
We’ll wind up this month with some light relief (with a sting mind you), turning to ‘Cowboys & Cocaine’, a collaborative album between Athens, GA cowpunk artist Cowboy Kerouac and Columbia, SC country-folk trio Cocaine Fairies. This is a strum along, sing along set of songs which, while far less scatological and non PC, reminds one of the happy days of The Fugs and The Holy Modal Rounders along with a touch of modern day Jeffrey Lewis. Recorded live in a living room in one day the album is great fun although several of the songs are quite deadly in their dissection of the fuck ups which occur in the unholy mess that is the USA these days. ‘American Jesus’ paints a brilliant picture of the stereotypical American stooge while ‘The Ashes Of A Dying Time’ is quite apocalyptical. Cowboy Kerouac is avowedly gay and several of the songs celebrate that. ‘Everyone’s A Little Gay’ enjoins everyone to join in on its chorus but ‘The Valley Of The Vanishing Men‘ is much more serious despite its brevity. They hit hardest when they condemn the latest Republican habit of banning books which are deemed as offensive on ‘We Shall Be Free’. Great fun to listen to and food for thought.
Thanks, Paul. Really appreciate the review.
Thank you so much for the kind words.