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| Fashioned, in its way, after classic-to-early modern country concept albums like Willie Nelson's holy Red Headed Stranger and Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears, AAAA finds Howe Gelb and a handful of his brilliant friends working out the neo-twang in typically refreshing Thrill Jockey style. Gelb uses straightforward, rural musical textures in sparse arrangements that give these songs an enchanting smokiness of skeletal purity. His parched, high-desert baritone (with intoxicating vocal accompaniment provided variously by three Danish fairies bearing throats of finest silver) gives the record heft. Smart disruptions in the stereo image and oddball instrumentation bring the whole thing into the current era without sacrificing the album's genuiness. Throw in a knockabout cover of Traffic's "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" and you've got a little slice of avant-roots heaven. - Mathew Stearns (RESONANCE MAGAZINE) BUY THIS CD! |
