A few months back, in this column, I previewed a performance by Vancouver, British Columbia-based folk-rock band the Clumsy Lovers. The headline of the review - "The Joy of Bad Sex" - pretty much summed up my feelings about what I'd heard of the band.
On record, they came off as a wildly energetic band, kooky and lighthearted and, alas, several scratches short of polished.
In the time since they were last here, the band released a new record, "After the Flood," which I recently received in a kit promoting their Dec. 5 return to Missoula.
I'm here to tell you that this record - the band's eighth release in nine years - improves upon other recent releases in almost every way. The band is much tighter; the individual players come off more technically precise and esthetically mature; the arrangements are more balanced; the singing is better.
Heck, even the cover art is a major improvement over other Clumsy Lovers releases.
Some things remain the same. The Clumsy Lovers are still a five-piece ensemble performing genre-bending original music that draws equally on old-time American folk, gospel, modern rock and Celtic influences. All of it is set to a snappy two-step bass-snare backbeat, caffeinated guitar strumming, and machine-gun banjo and fiddle playing.
Breakneck tempos seem to be a hallmark of their arrangements - you haven't heard fast pickin' until you've heard Paul Simon's "That Was Your Mother" played at six beats per second.
And songwriter (and group bassist) Chris Jonat seems to derive endless pleasure from dropping references to old-time traditional melodies in the middle of his original songs.
But on "After the Flood," the band has begun to explore the deeper emotions that lurk in the shadows of the extroverted melodies they are drawn to.
Take "Amen," the fifth track on the new CD. The chorus of this song is vintage Clumsy Lovers: a joyful, repeated "Amen," sung to a traditional and very familiar melody, set against a bubbly banjo backdrop.
But the verses offer a markedly different mood. Over a chugging, minor-key shuffle, lead singer Trevor Rogers croons the pathetic tale of a farmer who prays for rain, only to get a flood.
It's an affecting song, conflicted at its core - a welcome departure from the band's previous, bright-neon monochromaticism.
The instrumental and vocal musicianship across the whole album demonstrates a level of cohesiveness, taste and precision that was missing on previous records.
To ascertain whether, as in love, familiarity with the band wasn't clouding my judgment, I went back to the two-CD set I'd listened to prior to writing about them last April.
Sure enough, there it all was, in abundance: the inarticulate fiddling, the messy drum fills, the in-your-face goofiness which completely buried any musical substance in a thick layer of overbearing merriment.
Anyway, I'm glad that, with this new record, the Clumsy Lovers have proven me wrong - or, at least, learned a bit more about the art of lovemaking. And if you're one of the many folks who love these guys live, you'll be glad to know that there's finally a studio album that effectively captures their spirit.
The Clumsy Lovers return to the Ritz, in Missoula, Friday around 9 p.m.
WAY-HIGH LONESOME
If the whiny, nasalized vocals that typify traditional bluegrass music bother you, then be forewarned: You probably won't like Open Road.
Lead singer Bradford Lee Folk is the whiner's whiner, boasting a tenor voice that occasionally soars into a range that most fellers couldn't hit without an ill-affixed pair of pliers.
If bluegrass is all about that high-lonesome sound, this guy's camping solo atop Everest.
But give him two or three songs, and you may just become convinced that everybody should sing this way. There is something oddly quite warm and affecting about his voice, something that makes you know he'd be a fascinating guy to sit around a campfire with, swapping stories.
That spirit of unpretentious charm pervades the music of Open Road, from the tasty underpinnings provided by bassist Eric Thorin, to the lazy virtuosity of mandolinist Caleb Roberts.
No wonder that this Colorado-based quintet has become the buzz of the traditional bluegrass scene, often mentioned in the same sentence with luminaries like the Stanley Brothers and the Appalachian godfather, Bill Monroe.
Denver newsweekly Westword, in naming the group Best Bluegrass Band for 2002, called Open Road's self-titled debut CD "a bone-chilling masterpiece of Kentucky-grown sound."
"Leader Bradford Lee Folk sports a harrowing voice, and he and his mates possess a commanding, retro-respectful grasp of their adopted music. From giddy stompers to tear-jerking laments, this record delivers all of the rustic goods."
The same could be said of the band's second album, "Cold Wind," released last year. Like the best practi-tioners of traditional bluegrass, the band's original songs (most written by lead singer Folk) are virtually indistinguishable in spirit or letter from the traditional songs they cover.
The last time these guys performed in Missoula (last year, at the Crystal), they sold the place out. So Mis-soula Folklore Society concert series promoter Jess Byers wisely booked the group's return performance at the Elk's Lodge, which will hold at least a few more bodies.
The concert is at 8 p.m. Friday, with an opening performance by Missoula's own Broken Val-ley Roadshow.
Tickets are $12 in advance ($10 for MFS members), available at Rockin Rudy's, Body Basics/Art Hang-Up and the Elks Lodge; or $14 at the door.
Reach Joe Nickell at 523-5358 or jnickell@missoulian.com.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)