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.
We kick off this month’s offerings with a nicely laid-back album which is redolent of the mellow country rock of the 1970s. Tyler-James Kelly’s “Dream River” is bound to be of interest to anyone who hankers for the days of Michael Martin Murphey and other, similar, country troubadours. Kelly sings with an air of resignation over lonesome harmonica, winsome fiddle and weeping pedal steel on a set of songs which, while never rocking the boat, are great fun to listen to. While the title song best sums up the album there are some extra special nuggets to be found in the likes of the downtrodden ‘Hard Times‘ which finds Kelly digging deep into a lonesome and twang fuelled description of hard scrabble times while ‘Gone Too Soon’ reminds one of the Southern laments of Ian Noe. It’s an album which deserves a hearing.
Eric Lindquist’s “Between The Earth And Sky” hails from similar territory as Kelly in term of instrumentation and inspiration but it’s more upbeat and optimistic with a more pronounced bluegrass element. The album kicks off with the squirrelling fiddles and fleet-footed picking of ‘The Golden Son‘, an aspirational song with Lindquist looking for a true romance but, attractive as this song is, it is followed by a string of similar songs which struggle to rise above the opposition. Lacking a killer touch, “Between The Earth And Sky” is a fine album which might attract some followers but is unlikely to gain much traction.
We seem to be fixated on past glories as Canada’s The Hearts hove into view. Here it’s bands such as The Jayhawks which seem to be the template and there’s no doubt that ‘Too Much Time‘, the closing track on their six-track album “Traces” is in debt to the Twin Cities pioneers. The Hearts can sound yearning as on the opening ‘Give It Back’ or marry country grunge and sweeping harmonies on ‘Almost Ready’ but, again, we’d be remiss in thoroughly recommending this album. It’s nice and worth investigating if you want to hear some Jayhawks’ like music.
Australia’s PJ Orr also harks to the past, citing the Grateful Dead in the publicity for his seven-track album “Wake Me When I’m Thirsty”. As with most publicity this is hyperbole. While Orr’s songs have a slight whiff of psychedelia to them he comes across as a more lightweight version of bands such as Beachwood Sparks and GospelbeacH. As such there are tons of harmonies and tons of guitars glistening away and on a couple of the songs he does hit home. ‘Knock On Wood’ (not the Eddie Floyd number) ends with some fine cosmic guitar noodling while the closing ‘Far From Home‘ is a slow-flowing meander reminiscent of The Church or Israel Nash. It’s quite trippy and well worth hearing.
Sticking with Australia we have veteran musician Jack Nolan’s album, “Songs For Hemingway” which finds him going back to his roots. Nolan has had a hand in numerous Aussie line-ups playing with members of The Hoodoo Gurus and Midnight Oil but “Songs For Hemingway” is stripped-back acoustic music and it’s very impressive. There’s a refreshing sense of light and air in the opening song ‘Diamonds On The Water’ but it’s the second song, ‘Tofino‘, which sets the scene for the remainder of the album. Named for a tourist attraction on Vancouver Island in Canada, Nolan wrote the song there while reading Hemingway’s “The Old Man And The Sea”, hence the album title. It’s a glorious song, not dissimilar to Eef Berzely or Nels Andrews, and it’s much darker than its predecessor, as are several of the following numbers. ‘Four Eyes’ has a sardonic take on the current state of democracy while ‘Lodestar’ is quite haunting with hints of Eastern melodies in its fade out. Overall, an excellent album and highly recommended.
Also referring to a novelist, in this case Carson McCullers, we have She’s In The Trees, an “alt folk” trio, who hail, like AUK, from the People’s Republic of Liverpool. Nice to know but that doesn’t give them a free pass here. Fortunately their debut album, “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” doesn’t require much glad handling as it’s quite the delight. Their laid-back and wispy songs are enlivened by delicate vocals from Amy Scott-Samuel who says that her songs are inspired by a host of intriguing characters, misfits & outcasts she has met during a lifetime of travelling. The songs, for the most part, are intimate with the stringed instruments (guitars, cello, violin and such) almost whispered as on ‘The Changes Between Us’ and the darkly impressionistic ‘Bitter Wind’ a song which begs comparison to Mazzy Star. When they head into gothic Americana as on ‘Mama I Have Sinned’ they are darkly delicious.
If you’re looking for a New York folkie who kind of likes early Dylan then look no further as Dustin Lowman just about fits the bill. The opening song on his album “Invulnerable”, ‘Lucky Stars‘, might be more John Prine than Dylan but he does get his message across. Unfortunately the remainder of the album struggles to match this. ‘Bankrupt And Crucified’ is a country lament replete with weeping pedal steel although it doesn’t quite match up to its fine title but much is redeemed by ‘Good Morning‘. This is, quite simply, a tremendous song which recalls the more innocent days of Greenwich Village folkdom.
We end with an album which acts as a eulogy of sorts. Simon Joyner from Omaha has a quiet reputation, his lonesome outsider folk music hailed by the likes of Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch. “Coyote Butterfly” was recorded in the wake of Joyner’s son’s death from an overdose two years ago. The songs are suffused with a sense of loss and regret, they almost limp from the speakers, so halting is the delivery. From this personal tragedy Joyner has crafted a thing of beauty and I would defy anyone not to listen to the astonishing ‘The Silver Birch’ without a lump in their throat forming. The sense of loss is fully formed on the opening song (after a brief snatch of birdsong) ‘I’m Taking You With Me‘ while ‘A Broken Heart is Best Kept Out Of Sight’ is a wonderful description of grief, precious memories and regret and that regret is amplified on ‘My Lament’ which opens with the tragic line, “If only I had returned your last call.” Time heals they say and Joyner closes the album with a slight sense of hope, singing “There’ll be a time when the phone rings and I reach without a shudder” on ‘There Will Be A Time’. While it is intensely personal, “Coyote Butterfly” also has a universal reach.
there are so many mistakes in this article! from artist name misspellings, to incorrect album names. you really should have a proofreader.
Apologies for that, now corrected hopefully