1. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Mojave
2. Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
3. David Sylvian - Dead Bees on a Cake
4. John Surman - Coruscating
5. Luke Vibert - YosepH
6. Arbouretum - The Gathering
The Willard Grant Conspiracy album is so so. I used to love this sort of laid back Americana stuff but now it sounds pretty middle of the road and very low key. Actually a bit depressing. The lead singer has one of those baritones popularised by The Handsome Family, Tindersticks and Nick Cave. Sadly on googling a meaning for Willard Grant (there wasn't one particularly) I learn that the lead singer died only this February and that wasn't his name.
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| Willard Grant singer Robert Fisher 1957 - 2017 |
I was surprised the band were still going actually. I saw them at our local Komedia venue many years ago, probably around the time (1999) of the Mojave album (which also has a pretty bleak cover) and they seemed jaded at the end of a long European Tour. I could see the drummer lying on the floor back stage before the band made their appearance.
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| Depressing imagery on the WGC album |
Iron and Wine on the other hand really resonate with me. I came to them late when I saw beautifully bearded leader Sam Beam with full electric band at The Green Man Festival in Wales about 7 or 8 years ago. I thought they were excellent - superb musicians, great vocals, and powerful songs especially Your Fake Name is Good Enough for Me. Later I read that diehard fans of Sam Beam were not so impressed with his switch to electric band from his acoustic roots. I've now caught up on the more solo emphasized earlier albums and they are excellent, but that doesn't detract from Kiss Each Other Clean this week's cover album.
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| Sam Beam, impressively bearded well before it became fashionable |
Finally this week a return for Baltimore rock band Arbouretum who I was surprised to see are playing at a tiny venue in Brighton in June. Tickets secured and I hope for some tracks from this guitar laden Gathering album.
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