Wednesday 21 September 2011

The Pine Box Boys - Tales From The Emancipated Head

Bloodgrass, apparently

Poetry and music - a heady mix, and that's my only pun this time around.

This Poesque musical nightmare is more tongue-in-cheekflap than glorying in actual gore. I initially thought from the descriptions that it would be in the Hank Williams III wild vein of cowpunk or some sort of gothpunk but it is, apparently, named by the band as bloodgrass and that countrified nomenclature is apt for the countryrock tunes. Each is introduced by the poetic narrator whose rhyming couplets signal the clever playfulness of the whole. The songs themselves are entertaining if not outstanding, and the storytelling is a significant factor. Pretty Little Girl has an Alex Harvey vocal tone that morphs - not that it's any huge distance - into Jim 'Dandy' Mangrum, and if you like that gruff sound, as I do, then this too adds to the appeal.  The Doomer has a King Crimsonesque machinegun drum&guitar duetting that foregrounds the solid musicianship throughout, and closer Blood has the most 'serious' vocal and delivery, sounding like Guy Clark, apart from the repeated lyrics of so much blood. You'd expect it all to be curdling, but it's more cuddly in the poetry and somewhat comic narratives.

Bunch of cool looking dudes.



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