The sound of old-time Appalachia and pre-war blues echoes through this debut album, inspired by life on the road.
Musician and visual artist Tom Letson has spent much of his adult life tramping around North America, from riding freight trains to hitchhiking and living remotely in Alaska. Throughout those years, he would write songs as he tried to interpret his place in a world with which he rarely resonated, emboldened by the sort of confidence that can only exist within the naivety of youthful ignorance. His alternative lifestyle helped fuel the evocative songwriting of a restless spirit who accidentally found meaning in life’s untamed moments while chasing a preconceived vision of freedom. Along the way, he has managed to hone his craft as a skilful fingerpicking, bottleneck slide, and clawhammer banjo player, and in the summer of 2023, whilst living in Haines in the northern part of the Alaska Panhandle, joined forces with his brother Justin to form the Letdown.
After several failed attempts to record the album at home, the brothers saved every dollar earned from their gigs across North America to enable them to eventually record “There’s A Hole In My Head Where My Brain Used To Be” over six consecutive days at Singing Sands Studios in Portland, Oregon. Keen to capture the way they play live, the brothers have deliberately kept the arrangements for these eleven songs stark, stripped back to just drums, guitar and vocals with no overdubs.
The album opens strongly with ‘1935’, immediately capturing the essence of the duo’s sound, Tom’s menacing vocal delivery and driving clawhammer technique solidly underpinned by the energetic percussion from Justin, combining to capture the intensity of the narrative. The pace is relentless, though there is a sweetness to the melody of ‘Into The Ether’, while the delightful slide playing that introduces ‘Hurry While Supplies Last’ is quickly replaced by an urgency as the track shifts through the gears, leaving one exhausted long before the final bar appears. Thankfully, things slow down slightly for ‘Coming To Terms With Reality’ where Tom’s fingerpicking excels on a song where the narrative intimates a sense of maturity in the face of harsh realities. The title track is another highlight sonically, the duo’s musicality shining through while Tom’s lyrics are delivered with the repetitive jab of a seasoned prizefighter.
If there is a problem with this album, then it lies in its repetitiveness. Having chosen to keep the arrangements stark, just drums, guitar and vocals, it offers up limited opportunity for variety and colour. Additionally, it just feels too long, spanning a whopping fifty-eight minutes for only eleven tracks. Which is a shame, as songs towards the end of the album, such as ‘Electricity’, are just as strong as some of those at the beginning; it’s just that their impact is lost beneath the lack of diversity. In truth, despite the quality of musicianship, most of the songs would have benefited from a little editing, while losing at least one track would also have improved the overall impact.
That said, there is plenty to like about “There’s A Hole In My Head Where My Brain Used To Be”, with enough quality in the writing to suggest that with a broader arrangement, maybe the addition of fiddle or accordion, their sophomore album could be one to really get excited about.
