Well, given January is usually cold and dank, we’ll open this month’s proceedings with some dark (not necessarily dank mind you) Americana from deepest Norway in the shape of Licking The Moose’s latest album “Songs From The Valley of The Nearly Dead”. You’ll know the score – twangy with barrel bottomed vocals, some rockabilly and a fine hint of gloom scattered throughout. The opening song, ‘To Kill The Divine’ is the perfect example but the band show they can expand their sound on the following ‘My Woman‘ which features an extended, almost funky, organ interlude while a female chorus adds a fine touch of soul. With some foot stomping and romping rock’n’roll on ‘Mud And Dust’ to energise you on a winter’s day it’s a worthy listen overall.
From Norway to Sweden than for a listen to the self titled debut from The Late Lights, a five piece who summon up a sound not unlike Australia’s The Church especially on the opening track ‘Was Looking’ and ‘When The Ghosts From Our Past Come To Live‘. There’s a slight Dylan influence on ‘Over The Phone’ with singer Jesper Klein sounding finely melancholic and ‘Your Inner Child’ is a very fine introspective ballad which should interest fans of Talk Talk. Well worth investigating.
From Minneapolis, Brian Just applies a slight wash of psychedelic pop to the songs on his fifth album “Countryside”. There are hints of the Paisley Underground on the bustling ‘Driver Driver‘ which is driven along with some Teutonic like drumming while ‘Second Arrow’ has fine harmonies which hark back to the days of The Association. However much of the album lacks bite and overall there’s not a breakout track.
To Ontario Canada then for Alex Mason’s “Breaking the Blue Sky”, his second disc which he says is centred on the loss of his mother in 2020 and his childhood around the Great Lakes. It’s a yearning album with most of the songs given an epic lift by swathes and lashes of squalling guitars and there’s a slight touch of a romantic Celtic air to several of them. ‘Silver Lining‘ is a grand exercise in building a mood and ‘Michigan’ casts an icy spell with a sound similar to early Ryan Adams. Even icier is the regret fuelled ‘Glacier’ but best of all is the memory ridden recollection of a summer’s day on ‘Broken Bottle’ which ripples along quite excellently. Another album well worth investigating.
Jackie Conn comes from Horden, a mining village in County Durham and her album “Baking Day” is rooted in much of the local history. This is simple folk storytelling, be it her tender memories of baking cakes with her mother on the title track, a quite delightful song cocooned by a delightful warm pedal steel pealing away, the haunting ‘Wedding Day’ or the sad depiction of a forlorn woman whose husband returns from the first world war an empty shell in ‘Emily Cried‘. Overall the album just glistens with a simple honesty and is highly recommended.
“To Jill With Love” is a tribute to the late Jill Sobule by The Jill Students Workshop Project, compiled by a number of acts who attended her song writing classes. All of the songs are originals either written in those classes, or were inspired by Sobule. It has to be said unfortunately that there’s little here to recommend. A few of the songs show promise such as Libby Wiebe’s ‘I Thought I Knew You(Kay Corleone’s Song)’ and ‘Remember’ by Steven Campbell but overall most of them come across as beginner’s efforts. That said, it’s out there if you you’re interested in hearing if Sobule’s influence can be discerned. All proceeds from the sales of “To Jill With Love” will be donated to the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice.
