Give us something pretty”, you cried. “We want something gorgeous and we want it now.”
I didn’t appreciate your demanding tone but the only thing I hate more than a sense of over-entitlement is your disappointed face, so I logged on to the world wide web online and I came across this little gem, a Sydney gent who flies by the name Mammals. Guy has this For Emma, Forever Ago thing going on that works a real treat for a pair of sore ears and tired eyes. ‘Carried’ is the most recent of his singles and available to you as a free download. I must’ve listened to this and the rest of the pearls you can hear via his bandcamp dozens of times now with still no end in sight. A true pleasure. Mammals was a recent finalist in FBi’s Northern Lights competition so if you’re interested in bragging rights then you’d probably best get on this before the rest of the world does. Attention is already being paid. Enjoy.

Laurence probably won’t last that long. Not as a band I mean, just as the name under which they’ll perform. When they start hitting their straps and these frequencies hit those (read: your) ears, you’ll know that what was meant to happen has happened and that life is good. Your woman will finally start respecting you and maybe that gimp who works the xerox will stop hitting on her when he senses your newfound closeness. Plenty of potential in this track, obviously. Bright Eyes turned americana and vocodered through a tincan + a bonus introductory instrumental. It’s a moving joint if you’ll let it be.

This is a pretty affair, there’s no two ways about it. Paddy Mann is Grand Salvo and Grand Salvo is Paddy Mann. They’ve been one and the same for over ten years now and despite a press release that insists that Grand Salvo have received critical acclaim, you’d have to say that the man’s flown under the radar. I can only deduce that this is a cross-media demonstration of solidarity wherein all music writer types have remained quiet on the movements of Mister Mann. It’s like that time Cuba made everyone angry so all the other countries were all like “no one hang with Cuba, they are being crazy annoying” so Cuba got super bored and just made sweet Latin grooves for a few years and but no one cared until the decided that Cuba was alright again and now Buena Vista Social Club are all that. In that analogy Cuba represents Grand Salvo and I represent whichever champion* shattered the embargo because I’m going public on this thing and there’s not a damn thing the UN can do about it. My self-aggrandising behaviour is reaching new peaks but let’s look at it as the necessary evil in the process of Grand Salvo delivery.

The new record is far more rich and textured than earlier releases with percussion, harp, recorder and cello present at different points (and sometimes at the same point!!). The song you’re hearing isn’t actually my first choice from the record but it’s the only single publicly available at this point and it’s no less heartfelt and romantic. I’m not sure if I like much of the contemporary folk that deals with youth and the movement of time. Actually I’m sure, I don’t like it. This isn’t the debut record from an artist suddenly invested in indie-folk though, this is the sixth record from a tested and true Australian folk staple. It’s lyrically mature and the arrangements are punctuated with a weaver’s subtlety. Slay Me In My Sleep may be be far fuller than the lighter acoustic fair Grand Salvo have previously released (see Needles) but it’s still a delicate, unaffected Aussie beauty.

*nope

Photo by Matt Weatherstone

It’s been a long time in the coming and we’ve all been a-wondering just what the hell it would sound like but here and now we have the debut recording for Rohin Jones. He’s now donned the mantle of R. L. Jones, which is suitably rootsy though perhaps too similar to Earl Jones for my liking. Jones has been playing tiny venues over the past year where he’s showcased his songwriting and withheld the falsetto that once made ladies go weak at the knees. The live set has affirmed him as the storyteller we always knew he was, but minus the pretty frills that drew so many to the Middle East.

This first recorded piece is titled ‘Everybody Wants To Be Your Friend’ and sees Adalita lending her vocals to the tune. It’s a Kurt Vile/Father John Misty cocktail which tastes a lot sweeter than what we’ve already imbibed. The record is due out next year but for the meantime this is more promising than I could have hoped.

Follow this link for a full run down on the whereabouts of the rest of the Middle East clan.

The Welcome Wagon have always been the nicotine gum to my Sufjan craving, keeping me suitably satisfied from one Sufjan release to the next. Sufjan’s fingerprints are all over most WW tracks though they look like his pre-evolution fingerprints, those of a Sufjan still interested in folk. That said, Sufjan produced and played, you know, all the instruments etc on the last Welcome Wagon record but on Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, their second full-length, we see Sufjan deeper in the shadows on banjo, piano and in the (yesssssss) choir. Welcome Wagon’s standing lineup consists of Reverend Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique. While their probably won’t be any White Stripes antics there’s a genuine output that I like to think is a product of an obviously gentle connection between husband and wife. Look at me getting all soppy over this. Shucks. Listen to this, then apply your ears to But For You Who Fear My Name, still my favourite of their songs in anticipation of the next release.