COUNTRY AMERICANA
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Angie Palmer Yonder Malcolm
Meanwhile, Yonder
Holcombe
As Night Falls
Gamblin’ House
Rootsy
Akrasia Records
ROOTSY010 Echo Mountain Records
PMCD5
ARGA006
JHS
JHS
JHS
Swedish quartet Yonder play a mix of acoustic
Formerly cast as the British Lucinda Williams,
folk and blues with an old time church and A native of North Carolina, singer songwriter
with this new CD Angie Palmer claims
mountain music feel. The four members all Malcolm Holcombe tells it like it is, pulling no
recognition for a style that is most definitely her
come from differing musical backgrounds, but punches. His back porch style, somewhere
own. All twelve compositions are written by
all have a common love of pre war delta blues between John Prine and Tom Waits, relays his
Angie and her long time song writing partner
music and the spiritual mountain music of the homespun philosophy, which has a canny knack
Paul Mason, backing once again provided by her
1920’s and 1930’s. Their self-titled debut offers of nailing a truth, in a whiskey tinged vocal that
regular band The Revelators’ and guesting are
eight originals, a cover of Beulah Land made tells its own tale. He sure knows how to party,
pedal steel royalty B J Cole and Alan Gregson on
famous by Mississippi John Hurt and the band’s but maybe a little too hard as the “antique
keyboards.
take on two ancient Nordic folk songs entitled babies and goodtime Jim” of Good Times serve
Anxious Mind and Day By Day. witness.
Covering the spectrum of country, folk and rock
the album opens with On The Eve, a familiar
Of the originals the lovers lament I Want To The CD is “dedicated to the victims of
and universal tale of love and longing, but
Wake Up With You shows off all the best incompetent leadership” and songs like I’d
remaining subject matter is varied ranging from
elements of Yonder, desert dry vocal over a Rather Have A Home and My Ol Radio , along
a unusual take on an old fairy tale Hunting
musical backdrop of harmonica, guitar, mbira, with the title track and sleeve too, with it’s eye
The Wolf, Biblical parables Hey Lazarus, the
percussion and stand up bass. Stark acoustic in the pyramid, offer a subtle slight on the state
rockabilly country of I Hear That Locomotive
soundscapes and back porch sensibilities of the US of A. Mostly his world seems one turn
and an eight-minute epic entitled Weeping
abound on other self penned tracks such as away from salvation or damnation either way
Wood, a song about the strange inhabitants of
April Snow, Faith and Foggy Straits all cut and the band , including Kenny Malone, Kirk
a mysterious forest. Variety is the spice of life
through with simmering intensity. “Jelly Roll” Johnson and master of the Dobro,
and with Angie’s smooth vocal delivery and
Ed Snodderly keep it careering along with an
www.yonder.nu
her literate, intelligent lyrics she breaks musical
almost last-chance brio.
constraints with style and panache. Fans and
www.malcolmholcombe.com
newcomers alike should take note.
Emily Barker and
The Red Clay Halo
www.angiepalmer.com
Despite The Snow
Miranda Lee
Richards
Joan Osborne
Everyone Sang ‘Light Of X’
How Sweet It Is
ES2008
Nettwerk
Smith & Co.
JR
308042
CD1163
SH
CP
Despite The Snow is Australian singer/
songwriter Emily Barker’s second album,
and her first with bandmates The Red Clay
Born in San Francisco to hipster artist parents
Still best known for her cover of One Of Us the
Halo, whose rich and varied accompaniment
(who created the underground comics
sassy Kentucky-born/NYC-nurtured singer/writer
embellish the songs here with a dramatic gravity
High Times and The 40 Year Old Hippie),
continues to operate outside the cubbyholes
less obvious on impressive solo debut Photos.
Miranda was a member of the notorious
she’s expected to occupy. Musically she’s liaised
Fires.Fables.
Brian Jonestown Massacre (appearing in the
with the Funk Brothers, played with the Grateful cult movie Dig!) before relocatIng to LA and
Dead, and accompanied the Dixie Chicks on
Recorded in a 16th Century Norfolk barn during securing a solo deal with Virgin, who released
tour whilst raising intrigued eyebrows when it
the freezing Easter of 2008, the close-mic’d, her debut album The Herethereafter in 2005.
comes to where her personal life is at! This CD
live recordings capture a quartet completely in
isn’t new territory – it’s her 2002 ‘soul’ album
command of their road-worn material, where
Now with Nettwerk, her debut for the label,
– a genre she’s subsequently revisited and
the smallest shifts in performance can transform
Light Of X, is moody and introspective,
affectionately relishes.
hushed, subtle Country into benevolent gothic
shimmering folk-country-psychedelia, with
Americana.
shades of Mazzy Star’s ethereal bliss and
Elegant and cosmopolitan, the take is 10,000 Maniacs’ emotional pull. With Miranda’s
Introspective rather than histrionic. On War
The haunting accordion/violin intro to beautiful, close to the heart vocals out front,
she eschews Edwin Starr’s “good God y’all”
Nostalgia will be familiar to fans of author a top-notch group of musicians and superb
freneticism for a languid lope, whilst still
Henning Mankell’s Wallander, as it became production, the album creates that wide open,
remaining defiant. A cogent, well-crafted set,
the theme for the BBC’s recent TV adaptation. spacious feel of a desert sky or an empty
fleshed out by taut band arrangements, it’s an
An atmospheric masterpiece, the song is church. Call it Ambient Americana, or Miranda¹s
invigorating yet sensitive outing, her version of
worth the price of the album alone as it neatly self coined term psychedelic chamber folk rock,
Stevie Wonder’s Love’s In Need Of Love Today
encapsulates all that’s good about the band Light Of X is an album full of love and loss,
yielding the best results. Play that funky music,
while eclipsing anything by Emily’s heroes and desolation and salvation, and wraps you in it’s
white girl!
fellow countryfolk The Waifs. embrace from the opening Breathless right
through to the utterly gorgeous, final sigh.
www.joanosbourne.com
www.emily-barker.com
www.mirandaleerichards.com
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