Adrift at sea with only a banjo for company...

Johny Lamb is a busy man. Not content with simply playing bass in Brighton power pop types Actress Hands, these days he can also be found fronting lo-fi rockers The Small, as one half of the dark alt-country duo Cotton Mouth, and playing bass and supplying backing vocals The Tandy Hard. Aside from all that, he’s gone and hauled together a talented selection of musician friends to form the four-piece Thirty Pounds Of Bone - drawing on his lifelong love of folk music to write and record an album full of elegantly crafted lo-fi folk roots. The album is The Homesick Children Of Migrant Mothers, the outcome of six months of recording and fine tuning in a friend’s basement by band member and Drift Records’ in-house producer Steve Grainger. And so our journey begins…

“So you’re a liar / now you’re on fire / my matches wouldn’t let me down again” – is our welcome note, as we’re greeted with a cautionary tale of boat arson - the snare drum march of album opener When She Goes Up. The lonely drone of a harmonium and distant thud of a bass drum form the basis of the haunting ballad ‘Uyeasound’, a slow lament celebrating love and living; while one of the album’s more upbeat moments - the instrumental Trawler Trash is a breezy and light-hearted affair, with a wonderfully hypnotic bouzouki riff. And its not everyday you can say that.

Title track The Homesick Children Of Migrant Mothers glistens with atmospheric ambience - gently picked acoustic guitar coupled with Johny’s hushed, delicate vocals that deliver a homesick and world-weary message - bearing comparisons to the lyrical themes of Shane MacGowan. The Pogues’ influence rears its drunken head for an oh-so-brief minute or so, as we’re treated to a brilliantly upbeat drunkard’s jig - complete with tin whistle, banjo - the full works. It’s called Drinking With McGee - and it’s quite simply superb. No doubt Shane himself would approve.

It’s worth saying at this point that praise could quite easily be singled out for any of the ten tracks on this record, but a man knows his limits - so finally a mention must go to the closing track, the sprawling six-minute Waves For Ketches. Things begin with nothing but a simple vocal and guitar strum – but changes are afoot. When the chorus arrives so it brings a tide of upbeat choral-like backing vocals, and with that the song glides along on a wave of euphoria. A flourish of elegantly controlled distortion and electronic harmonies rise and fall, before fading solemnly into a beautifully haunting sole harmonium melody line. Cloaked in floating upbeat harmonies from beginning to end - a fitting way to end a very special album.

Yes, what we have here is essentially folk music, but approached from a challenging and interesting dimension - equal parts the dreaminess of Sparklehorse and intimacy of Will Oldham as the sentimentality of Nick Cave or Shane MacGowan - condensed and added to a melting pot of traditional folk influences.

This is a dark and intimate record, inspired throughout by some visionary arrangements that elevate the songs to another level, whilst not allowing them to stray from their fragile and atmospheric path. The album flows gracefully from theme to theme in an effortless manner - allowing these reflective and personal songs to bathe in their own reflective glory. Magical.

Release Date: 27/11/2006
Artist Website: www.driftrecords.co.uk
Label: Drift Records

(0) comments - discuss in the forum