This writer is continually knocked out by the seemingly bottomless well of talent being divined from the Canadian Alt. Country & Alt. Folk scenes these days. Coast to coast, performers as singular and enticing as Farrell Spence, Kevin House, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings and Share are cropping up and committing memorable debut albums to the annals of Roots-rock history and in DUST POETS we have yet another name to bear in mind for the future.
'World At Large' is the fourth-album from this eclectic 'chamber-folk' quintet who draw upon everything from Bluegrass, gnarly Country-Rock and '60s soul through to gritty, Stones-y rockers as they freewheel down the highway. The LP was recorded in Winnipeg, but the band themselves hail from the enigmatic rural wastes of Manitoba and 'World At Large' presents us with a dozen songs written from a universal, humanitarian point of view that rarely fail to hit their targets.
Opening track 'Big World' immediately gets you onside. It describes a place where "the business men are stepping over him/ he's trying to keep himself warm, he's sleeping in the wind"Â and it outlines the horrors of homelessness with a dignity and accuracy this writer last encountered in Perry Keyes' magnificent low-life vignettes. It's a great start and soon cemented by the tense rootsy rattle'n'roll of 'Border Town' where crime, love on the wring side of the tracks and a Los Lobos-style backdrop get together and apparently hi-jack Eric Clapton for some sultry lead guitar. It's actually Damon Mitchell, but the playing's sure reminiscentof ol' Slow Hand himself.
The rest of the album mixes and matches the best Folk and Alt. Country trappings ('Codeine Dreams' swaggers and jaywalks across to the nearest bar to get royally blasted, 'Way Over Yonder In the Minor Key' is a respectful version of the Woody Guthrie-by-way-of-Billy Bragg classic) with some truly arcane diversions. One of the most unlikely is 'Hotel Paradiso' which apparently describes a sales conference in Spain, only its' randy, Dylan-esque narrative ("they're changing their partners like underwear/ exotic dancers eliciting stares") suggests it's more like a Swingers' Party beneath the surface. If that wasn't curious enough, try 'Opening Day (56 Year-old Wig)' on for size. Built around a musically light and airy set piece and a lovely, sultry Karla Ferguson vocal, it's only when you get to the core of the lyrical slant (a deceased mother's long-saved youthful braids finding their way into the wigs used in a stage production of 'The Sound of Music') that you realise the song actually has a lot more in common with Canadian TV's splendid 'Murdoch Mysteries' series of Victorian crime than any Lucinda Williams album you care to mention.
|
A good tale of the unexpected's always worth the price of admission, of course, but it's with sublime moments like 'Hold Out For Love' and 'Deceived By Gasoline' that 'World At Large' really scores. Built around stately, Spooner Oldham-style piano, the former is a sweeping ballad which taps into a particularly gorgeous and poised strain of Southern Soul. 'Deceived By Gasoline', meanwhile, is musically sprightly and rocky, but its' anthemic qualities bely its' visceral, post-Iraq state of the North American continent attack ("the union moved in just to pick up the dues/ the crack dealers on the corner now deliver the news") and its' no-punches-pulled fire soon sets it apart.
'World At Large' is a good, sometimes really great album with plenty of weird walks on the wilder side of life to keep it interesting. It tells this writer he has yet another notable back catalogue to check out, not to mention another name to add to his lengthening list of cool Canadians to check out if and when they venture across the Atlantic.
|
