The Album Review Club - Week #191 (page 1286) - Harlequin Dream - Boy & Bear

Wolf of St Elmo by Slow Motion Cowboys demonstrates perfectly that I am easy to manipulate and no review I ever post should be taken seriously.

I did a cold first listen of the album and was immediately put off by the country inflections. This is not a genre I have much affinity for or good will towards. There is plenty in here that I could criticise with similar complaints too last weeks offering in particular it's lack of effort. Second track Damned if You Do has a well worn Humpy Dumpty reference and opening track Invisible Stars aims for ambiguity but fails basic physics. No matter how hot the summer is you won't turn into a candle. Heat and candles do not mix. Also a stray dog would have difficulty lying on a stone cross unless the cross was laid flat. I think in a graveyard there is an implication that a cross stands upright.

Then I discovered there is little information about this band on the internet except that the band is really Pete Fields and I absolutely applaud his choice to go by the name Pete rather than Peter. It's infinitely more cowboy and less noncy. Pete's instagram is wonderfully understated with zero pretence or rock star trappings. We also soon discover that the band played in a pub for BlueHammer and I found myself feeling a huge wave of warmth and respect for Pete and his merry men. I vote myself most likely to join a cult if someone is nice to me.

Subsequent listens when i've decided that I like the band were more favourable. There are delightful little touches in how the drums are recorded; played sometimes with sticks and sometimes with brushes and with varying amounts of reverb added. There is also to my ears a pleasing amount of warm distortion on the vocals and his voice is interesting and less perfect than what Pat DiNizio's last week. Pat's has a better voice but I'd much rather listen to Pete's.

I'm unlikely to become a country fan anytime soon but there are a couple of songs on this album I enjoyed. I did like the high melody on Passed Through The City even though to my ears this leans heavily into the country with the slide guitar but the chord change on the line "never enough" was nice and dark which matched with the lyrics.

Talks to Strangers could almost be a country version of a Leonard Cohen song - sped up and sung an octave or two higher. New Beginning and Wolf of St Elmo has a similar vibe to the country tinged retro indie of someone like Gomez or Alfie. New Beginning sees Pete adding a bit of grit and yearning to his voice which was also pleasant.

Album highlight by some distance is the slightly looser Catch and Release. I immediately loved the nicely reverbed snare drum but it took me a couple of listens to realise the verses were written with alternating lines of 3 and 4 bars. I imagine the catch being a quick snatch in the lines of 3 then a realise on the lines of 4. It gives the track a ramshackle feel and a great in and out pulse like a tide on a lake. The bass is really laid back and lazy so I'm transported to a lazy day spent in the heat as midges keep me company. This track is definitely worth a few repeat listens.

So all in all I'm a fan of the band and what I feel they represent - good, honest, smart musicians not trying to hard to become stadium rock stars. For the high point of the four in a row bangers Catch & Release, Passed Through The City, Talks to Stranger and New Beginning I'm going to settle on a 7. Great pick that I was never ever going to hear without it being nominated so I'm grateful
 
mrbelfry said:
Wolf of St Elmo by Slow Motion Cowboys demonstrates perfectly that I am easy to manipulate and no review I ever post should be taken seriously.

I did a cold first listen of the album and was immediately put off by the country inflections. This is not a genre I have much affinity for or good will towards. There is plenty in here that I could criticise with similar complaints too last weeks offering in particular it's lack of effort. Second track Damned if You Do has a well worn Humpy Dumpty reference and opening track Invisible Stars aims for ambiguity but fails basic physics. No matter how hot the summer is you won't turn into a candle. Heat and candles do not mix. Also a stray dog would have difficulty lying on a stone cross unless the cross was laid flat. I think in a graveyard there is an implication that a cross stands upright.

Then I discovered there is little information about this band on the internet except that the band is really Pete Fields and I absolutely applaud his choice to go by the name Pete rather than Peter. It's infinitely more cowboy and less noncy. Pete's instagram is wonderfully understated with zero pretence or rock star trappings. We also soon discover that the band played in a pub for BlueHammer and I found myself feeling a huge wave of warmth and respect for Pete and his merry men. I vote myself most likely to join a cult if someone is nice to me.

Subsequent listens when i've decided that I like the band were more favourable. There are delightful little touches in how the drums are recorded; played sometimes with sticks and sometimes with brushes and with varying amounts of reverb added. There is also to my ears a pleasing amount of warm distortion on the vocals and his voice is interesting and less perfect than what Pat DiNizio's last week. Pat's has a better voice but I'd much rather listen to Pete's.

I'm unlikely to become a country fan anytime soon but there are a couple of songs on this album I enjoyed. I did like the high melody on Passed Through The City even though to my ears this leans heavily into the country with the slide guitar but the chord change on the line "never enough" was nice and dark which matched with the lyrics.

Talks to Strangers could almost be a country version of a Leonard Cohen song - sped up and sung an octave or two higher. New Beginning and Wolf of St Elmo has a similar vibe to the country tinged retro indie of someone like Gomez or Alfie. New Beginning sees Pete adding a bit of grit and yearning to his voice which was also pleasant.

Album highlight by some distance is the slightly looser Catch and Release. I immediately loved the nicely reverbed snare drum but it took me a couple of listens to realise the verses were written with alternating lines of 3 and 4 bars. I imagine the catch being a quick snatch in the lines of 3 then a realise on the lines of 4. It gives the track a ramshackle feel and a great in and out pulse like a tide on a lake. The bass is really laid back and lazy so I'm transported to a lazy day spent in the heat as midges keep me company. This track is definitely worth a few repeat listens.

So all in all I'm a fan of the band and what I feel they represent - good, honest, smart musicians not trying to hard to become stadium rock stars. For the high point of the four in a row bangers Catch & Release, Passed Through The City, Talks to Stranger and New Beginning I'm going to settle on a 7. Great pick that I was never ever going to hear without it being nominated so I'm grateful
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Your point in the last paragraph is kinda where I was going with my own observation of their 'indie-like' qualities and expression.
 
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Coatigan said:
Your point in the last paragraph is kinda where I was going with my own observation if their 'indie-like' qualities and expression.
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Yes i think i may have been influenced again by what you wrote. it's partly why i like to do a quick review but i think this week i definitely benefitted from others experience of the album.

AND i was careful to not criticise it for what it isn't trying to do :) For example if it had leaned more into a indie vibe like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco I think I'd have liked some of the songs a little more BUT I also think this band are more organic so is an unfair criticism
 
Coatigan said:
- waits for Rob to decide he likes Idles..
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Joe Talbot was a beardy social worker and Rob's a clean shaven computer scientist, it's never gonna happen

I reckon there's some ongoing thread quests here

Find Rob a 'manc indie dirge' band that he can fall in love with
Find you a country band you don't hate (have you tried Lucero? )
Find Belfry a band that leaves him lost for words
Find Gornik a band that plays fey acoustic ballads he just wants to play at very low volumes

etc etc
 
threespires said:
Joe Talbot was a beardy social worker and Rob's a clean shaven computer scientist, it's never gonna happen

I reckon there's some ongoing thread quests here

Find Rob a 'manc indie dirge' band that he can fall in love with
Find you a country band you don't hate (have you tried Lucero? )
Find Belfry a band that leaves him lost for words
Find Gornik a band that plays fey acoustic ballads he just wants to play at very low volumes

etc etc
Click to expand...
I’ll have you know I was doing some quiet acoustic strumming to myself just yesterday… there’s always hope
 
threespires said:
Joe Talbot was a beardy social worker and Rob's a clean shaven computer scientist, it's never gonna happen

I reckon there's some ongoing thread quests here

Find Rob a 'manc indie dirge' band that he can fall in love with
Find you a country band you don't hate (have you tried Lucero? )
Find Belfry a band that leaves him lost for words
Find Gornik a band that plays fey acoustic ballads he just wants to play at very low volumes

etc etc
Click to expand...

I think you'll find I do have some tolerance. Seen Hayseed Dixie twice, and quite like a bit of that now and then. The Dead South's Sugar and Joy album gets a revisit evert so often, and the Chicks' Home album isn't bad either. I'll give Lucero a go too, in for a penny and all.
 
Coatigan said:
I think you'll find I do have some tolerance. Seen Hayseed Dixie twice, and quite like a bit of that now and then. The Dead South's Sugar and Joy album gets a revisit evert so often, and the Chicks' Home album isn't bad either. I'll give Lucero a go too, in for a penny and all.
Click to expand...
Seen the Dead South three times. Hayseed once.

Not sure the chick's count in their sphere.
 
Coatigan said:
Slow Motion Review Cowboys!
Click to expand...

It's meandering vibe has left me too chilled out to type

On the one hand it's a pretty straightforward offering but there is something I can't put my finger on that is ever ever so slightly bent out of shape (in a good way) - there's someone it reminds me of and I can't work out who, it's not as slow or spacey as say Lambchop but its someone who does a kind of so laid back it's a bit hazy version of Americana, bugging me I can't pin them down.
 
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