Tyler Sjöström is
a Chicago-based singer with umlauts in his name and desperation in his soul. He
has a new album, Bones, Hold Me Up, plus a Noisetrade project called Saucy
Sampler and here's your
takeaway point: he really knows how to frame a song. His songs tend to deal
with themes such recovery, survival, and trying to be strong—which would be
standard folk fare, except that his takes are smart, honest, and robust.
"Holding On" is a catchy tune ditty of the hand-clapping variety, but
his strong guitar, open voice, and offbeat cadences make it more than that.
"Red River" is another one that catches you slightly off guard.
Sjöström doesn't have a naturally big voice, but he makes it sound that way and
tosses in some whistling for something that's like Appalachia meets the Great
Plains. "Straight Bourbon Whiskey" is about a sad man who I merely
"half way gone," knocking himself out with things that "won't
kill my body/It will kill soul." I also really liked "Ghostly,"
which comes off as electrified mountain music with resonant low notes and a
definitive bom-bom-BOM pattern that makes for a really great arrangement. If my
review doesn't entice, you gotta love a guy whose take on his own art is
"music wrought by the love of the wild and the pursuit of truth, spun as
cognitive word vomit with the frills of folk." Stick this guy on your
one-to-watch-for list. ★★★★
@TyJoMusic
Brian Dunne is a
Brooklyn-based singer songwriter with a voice that's what a folkier version of
Ryan Adams might sound like. Dunne's Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements
is a confessional album and the sins for which he wishes forgiveness is that he
has a tendency to screw up a lot. His single "Don't Give Up On Me" is typical.
It's a gorgeous little song—made all the more so with Liz Longley singing
backup—rendered in high sweet voice. In it he admits he's not perfect and that
he's looking for perseverance more than redemption. Another really great song
is "Taxi," which about the search for something unknown and unnamed.:
He said kid are you going?/I said that's
a good question/He laughed and said you'll figure it out/But I'm riding in the
backseat?in this old taxi/Heading through a tunnel downtown. Many of
Dunne's songs are stripped down, which gives the LP the feel of a live
performance. I really liked his honest emotions and the way in which he tosses
off lines that capture them. "We Don't Talk About It" is about a
relationship in which the lights have gone out: We don't talk about it anymore/Your silence is your way of war.
There's just enough electric guitar in this one to add to the desperation.
"Here I Go Again" has a nice riff, the first part of which is
evocative of Richard Thompson's "Vincent Black Lightning." The scattered
and quick notes mirror lyrics that express the fear that another screw-up
looms. "Chelsea Hotel" is also terrific. It's famed for the fact
quite a few angst-ridden people have dwelt there and Dunne uses it as a
metaphor for ghosts and psychological crutches. Yet it, like most of the
material, is so musically pleasing that it takes a moment to get that. Terrific
album from still another talented alum of the Berklee School of Music. ★★★★
@briandunnemusic
Little Reader is
a Nashville-based pop duo consisting of Kate Tucker and Russ Flournoy. Their
debut release, The Big Score, draws
inspiration from bands such as Depeche Mode by way of The Bangles. Featured
track "Speed of Light" is typical of Little Reader's approach. It's
filled with oscillating electronic pulses and guitar that's made fresh through hints
of musical retrofitting. It's danceable and catchy. The downside is that this
is also the formula for other songs I sampled: "Running Toward the
Sun," "Burn Eternal," and "Best Regret." Overall the
instrumentation dazzles more than the vocals. Flournoy has the power to punch
through the thick mix, but Tucker's is better suited for quieter material. More
variety would guard against becoming a now-but-not-tomorrow phenomenon. ★★ ½
You never know what will happen when you leave a town like
Bellingham, Washington and land in Austin. It worked well for Shawnee Kilgore, who you might know for
doing some music for director Joss Whedon.
Now the two of them have an EP, Back to Eden, a six-song project for which Whedon wrote most of the lyrics and
Kilgore the music. Kilgore has the kind of voice you'll either love or think
odd; it's small and a bit nasal, but I like the fact that like all good
singers, she knows how to bend, inflect, and color it. My favorite track is
"Unforgiven," with its wonderful line, I was told I came out crooked/So I walked a crooked line. The
fiddle and backing vocals come from Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek. The title
track is also superb. It has a lonesome feel that's enhanced by Janeen Rae
Heller's musical saw and deepened by Vanessa Freebairn's cello. I also liked
how Kilgore's voice contrasted to Eric Holden's bass on "Three Legged
Dog," and slid between Peter Adams' quiet piano in "Love Song." ★★★★
Strong Water is a
Harrisonburg, Virginia-centered trio plus friends whose take on Americana is
influenced by Noah Gunderson and Mumford and Sons. I'd call it muscular
bluegrass sifted through rock and folk rock. Their debut LP, titled Strong
Water, makes them a band to watch. Lead vocalist Greg Brennan, also the band's guitarist, has a whiskey-soaked voice
that is so powerful that he over-sings on occasion—more like he's playing arena
rock than bluegrass—but he performs with such earnestness that it's easy to
forgive him. But you will certainly not find flaws with the amazing fiddling of
J.J. Hosteller, or the fine harmonies she lays down behind Brennan. Check out
the cool slow-run-run-run-slow patterning of "Tippie Canoe," the
lead/echo vocal formula of "Remember July," the desperation of
"Derailed," and the atmospheric moodiness of "Evergreen."
These are all fine songs but what will linger in the end are the superb arrangements.
There's the breakdown fiddle of "Streets of Gold," the back-beat of
"Dinobones," the fiddle/cello opening of "Golden Days," and
the as-advertised "Jam in G." If these don't spin your head,
"Whiskey Sour" will. Its electric power is shot through with rock and
R& B, but it's the strings that sound more dangerous still. Here's a young
band that knows how to build drama. ★★★★
If you like big music, as in B-I-G, try The Weeks and their ironically named Easy Does It. This is bop
and hop dance music—not always profound, but good loud rock n' roll.
"Bobby" feels like a souped-up 50s throwback and even has a
switchblade reference to give a whiff of dangerous nostalgia. Check out the
structure of "Wishin' My Week Away," but put away all the technical analysis—it's
basically noise, a few guitar runs, noise, more runs, and lots of noise. And
that's kind of their point. There are occasional lead guitar breakouts, but these
Jackson, Mississippi lads are more into rock as attitude and amplitude.
"Lawman's Daughter," for instance, is a classic bad boy/good girl
song and the fact that he's a wanted man complicates things, to say the least.
A personal favorite was "Talk Like That." Not much poetry in this one
either—it's just robust and loud for those times when that's all I want from a
song. ★★★
@theweeks
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