It’s been suggested that Ottersgear, the musical project of Mikey Kenney, is rather like a ‘de-weirded Devendra Banhart’. I can see (or hear) that in places, too. Kenney’s tremulous quaver has a definite hint of Banhart about it, and similarly, his deceptively complex fingerpicking is reminiscent of the weirdy beardy one. But the lamenting, mournful fiddle that weaves through the fabric of the songs belongs to a different folk tradition. And lurching into the realms of Celtic folk, it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the connotations of drunken barroom revelry, the foot-stomping and the maudlin pining.
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Because ‘Quest For Rest’ is almost equally informed by two very different musical styles and straddles them confidently while slinging back a stiff whiskey or three, it wouldn’t be just to accuse Ottersgear of being derivative, and although it’s not really my scene, I have to give Kenney a nod in recognition of his ability to convey a range of moods and meanings in a crossover genre of his own making.
Ottersgear Online
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