"Boot-Gazer" Indie Alt. Country for the fans of Whiskeytown, The Damnbuilders, and Wilco

10 MP3 Songs
COUNTRY: Country Rock, ROCK: Americana



Details:
From the opening chords, the fiddle and the dirty vocals full of yearning, we're in Uncle Tupelo or Whiskeytown territory. It's dangerous ground to cross but the song "Devil In A Bottle" is good enough to keep the company. They approach Americana from noisy indie-rock, the addition of the fiddle and lap steel ensuring they're not so welcome there anymore and the noisy guitars will inflame the country purists - but for us Americana fans - well, this is an excellent example of why the genre exists and an excellent example of how it can embrace mongrel music. The absolute centre of this record is "All Your Precious Things" which is as good a song as you'll get - guitars are fed through effects pedals to give a sweet drone whilst the vocals take the melancholy melody, and the chorus is full of harmony as the guitars build like a piece of Philip Glass minimalism. The songs tell stories of love and mainly loss - "Pale Blue Eyes" (no not that one) leaves them 'drunk at the bar' having to 'leave everything behind', perfect music for crying into your beer. "Empty (... In Whiskey)" takes this a stage further, with guitars held in check like a dressage horse, whilst the violin provides the trail for the varied vocals to follow (some are like ghosts) - then the guitars slip their bit and wreak havoc whilst the refrain 'the girl inside the liquor store that's the one I adore' is belted out - things quieten down again only to once more explode to 'the girl inside the record store that's the one I adore'. Girls, whiskey and records the staple diet - you can get your own appetizer from www.themyrtles.com where you can stream the whole record.

Americana UK July 2003