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| Track List: 1. Maa Bonny Lad 2. My Donal 3. The Gypsy He-Witch 4. The Last House 5. Major March 6. Jennie Blackbird’s Blues Running time: 35 minutes Released: 2002 |
I bought this because I had admired a track or two from Scottish songwriter Alasdair Roberts, and this was a collaboration between him and two prominent American artists - Will Oldham (otherwise known as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, of whom more in this library) and Jason Molina - whose name I recognise but whose music I have never investigated for some reason.
There is a hidden track to pour scorn on (Wikipedia has a name for it, too - I Will Be Good) meaning the runtime of track 6 is 18 minutes - fully half the disc. Bleh. Still, I have not paid any attention to this E.P. for a long time so what is not dead air should make for interesting listening.
In truth I started this one once and stopped because the tempo of the record was too slow and low for my mood at the time. In starting again now, I worry the same may be true. I am trying to fit this in, having avoided it yesterday, before hastily arranged plans for later this evening. And I have not eaten yet. It is fairly minimalist stuff, to go by the opening. A pleasant enough tune (I get the feeling "pleasant" is the new "nice" of damning with faint praise), but nothing much to recommend it. Nice and short though, and when Maa Bonny Lad ends, My Donal begins. This has more of an atmosphere to it. It keeps the minimalism but there is an intent in the backing, a slight sense of the malign, which gives the tune some character and a stronger sense of self. Recording levels for the vocal are deliberately low, the backing distant. The whole volume is very low, but that creeping doom sense maintains the attention. I like this track. The first track was voiced by Roberts, the second I think by Oldham so by process of elimination the third different voice must be Molina, not that I can hear him much but the voice is not what I expected. Not sure what I expected.
That quietness is a definite feature, and not just because my speakers were turned way down.
It makes for an interesting listen... it feels more like listening to your mate strumming a guitar in the corner of the room rather than a record produced by professional musicians, but there is something in the construction of the melodies that gives them away. This is contemplative material, quiet-time appreciation; it sounds very simple but I think that there are elements here that are subtle enough to overlook, but which would change the tunes immeasurably if they were removed. I do not really like The Last House much, but it does illustrate that point.
The songs are better when they gain more sense of purpose. At times, with the quiet vocal they feel like they are drifting a bit and that allows interest to wander and wane. Here and there though the accompaniment ratchets up a notch and throws in something more demanding. Unfortunately from my perspective that is too infrequent to make me want to keep the album (more an E.P. really). My Donal is definitely worth keeping, it sat me up in a way that frankly I was not expecting but all of the other tunes have too many slow moments, weak points or both to hold my attention for long.
I am now into the interminable dead air before the hidden track (seriously why was this still around past the turn of the millennium?) and it occurs to me that I may not even hear the last tune start, so soft have been the recordings. It comes in at 15.20. This is 11 minutes and 40 seconds after the previous chord died, and leaves it less than 3 minutes to run. So bleeding pointless; a third of the disc is silence, the other two thirds is quiet on principle. Baffling.
Anyhow, a nice easy cut back - one good song to keep, 5 to ditch.
In truth I started this one once and stopped because the tempo of the record was too slow and low for my mood at the time. In starting again now, I worry the same may be true. I am trying to fit this in, having avoided it yesterday, before hastily arranged plans for later this evening. And I have not eaten yet. It is fairly minimalist stuff, to go by the opening. A pleasant enough tune (I get the feeling "pleasant" is the new "nice" of damning with faint praise), but nothing much to recommend it. Nice and short though, and when Maa Bonny Lad ends, My Donal begins. This has more of an atmosphere to it. It keeps the minimalism but there is an intent in the backing, a slight sense of the malign, which gives the tune some character and a stronger sense of self. Recording levels for the vocal are deliberately low, the backing distant. The whole volume is very low, but that creeping doom sense maintains the attention. I like this track. The first track was voiced by Roberts, the second I think by Oldham so by process of elimination the third different voice must be Molina, not that I can hear him much but the voice is not what I expected. Not sure what I expected.
That quietness is a definite feature, and not just because my speakers were turned way down.
It makes for an interesting listen... it feels more like listening to your mate strumming a guitar in the corner of the room rather than a record produced by professional musicians, but there is something in the construction of the melodies that gives them away. This is contemplative material, quiet-time appreciation; it sounds very simple but I think that there are elements here that are subtle enough to overlook, but which would change the tunes immeasurably if they were removed. I do not really like The Last House much, but it does illustrate that point.
The songs are better when they gain more sense of purpose. At times, with the quiet vocal they feel like they are drifting a bit and that allows interest to wander and wane. Here and there though the accompaniment ratchets up a notch and throws in something more demanding. Unfortunately from my perspective that is too infrequent to make me want to keep the album (more an E.P. really). My Donal is definitely worth keeping, it sat me up in a way that frankly I was not expecting but all of the other tunes have too many slow moments, weak points or both to hold my attention for long.
I am now into the interminable dead air before the hidden track (seriously why was this still around past the turn of the millennium?) and it occurs to me that I may not even hear the last tune start, so soft have been the recordings. It comes in at 15.20. This is 11 minutes and 40 seconds after the previous chord died, and leaves it less than 3 minutes to run. So bleeding pointless; a third of the disc is silence, the other two thirds is quiet on principle. Baffling.
Anyhow, a nice easy cut back - one good song to keep, 5 to ditch.
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