Formed in 2019, Greek band Redeye Caravan bill themselves as “dark country”, but their sound runs far deeper than that. For those people who are country averse, it’ll come as a relief that they don’t necessarily fit the country mould – or certainly not as a lot of people would perceive it. For example, the brilliant ‘El Muerto’ from their 2020 album ‘Nostrum Remedium’ actually plays more like a swamp blues; a landscape where acoustic slide guitars meet haunting harmonica lines and a gruff vocal comes a little closer to the work of Molly Hatchet. The same record features a choir of vocals exploring some moody folk sounds (‘Banshee’); a marriage of hefty twanging guitars and whistled melodies on a piece that’s clearly modelled on an Ennio Morricone score for a Western (‘Old Debt’), and even a mix of blues and cajun (‘The Road North’). There are hints of something a little more traditional when ‘At Gallows End’ plays more like a moody Johnny Cash number by way of Mark Lanegan, but it would be hard to pigeonhole the whole affair as “a country record”.
Tag Archives: americana
REDBUD – Long Night EP
Texan indie pop band Redbud began releasing music via Bandcamp during the lockdown of 2020, and it was immediately clear that their sound had something special. Their early digital singles ‘To The Moon’ and ‘Opal’ conveyed elements of retro dream pop and light psych-tinged Americana in a way that felt both familiar and fresh – an oxymoron if ever there were – and vocalist Katie Claghorn’s hazy and ethereal vocal style had an immediate appeal.
THE MORNING LINE – Scene
The Morning Line’s 2019 LP, ‘North’, was an absolutely terrific album. Reawakening the sounds of ‘Girlfriend’ era Matthew Sweet, Soul Asylum’s best major label recordings and even a the productions of Sean Slade & Paul Q. Kolderie, it felt like a musical love letter to the 1990s. Retro, yet still somehow fresh, it’s melodic and jangly songs really captured the best of the band’s obvious talents.
Three years on, their first release for Justine Couvault’s Red On Red Records is another musical treat. A seven song collection, ‘Scene’ taps into the “mini album” format – something that seems to have been overlooked since the early 90s – which means there’s far less opportunity for the listener’s attention to wander, but still enough scope for a little variety along the way.
EDWARD O’CONNELL – Feel Some Love
Edward O’Connell’s third album ‘Feel Some Love’ comes eight years after the excellent ‘Vanishing Act’, but for fans, no matter how much time has passed, it’s the kind of record that’ll hit the spot pretty much instantly. Within a few seconds of the opening track ‘Golden Light’ emerging from the speakers, it almost feels as if O’Connell has never been away. That number’s heavy use of chiming guitars, leading a melody that occasionally sounds as if it could slip into an old Tom Petty tune at the drop of a hat, is typical of the singer-songwriter in that has a sort of timeless quality, especially in the way he’s able to apply a rootsy and friendly vocal to a very bright guitar sound. Some understated harmonies, a hard struck piano, a swirling organ and a Jim Keltner-esque drum part are all on hand to layer a great tune, but everything escalates via a lead guitar break that tips the hat to Roger McGuinn styled melodies. As the final notes fade, there’s a feeling that – at just two minutes and forty two seconds into this album – you’re in more than safe hands.
Chessi O’Dowd & Jack Blackman collaborate on superb cover of Joan Osborne’s ‘Pensacola’
Singer songwriter Chessi O’Dowd has teamed up with Jack Blackman to record a new cover of the Joan Osborne track ‘Pensacola’. O’Dowd, a young performer from Warwickshire, cites Osborne’s 1995 album ‘Relish’ as an important influence, and by teaming up with Blackman – a performer who can count the legendary ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris among his fans – she hopes to bring one of the album’s best tracks to a new audience.