Porch Song Anthology
>> Spell of the Trembling Earth
Now I’m not going to linger on this but back in the days before Myspace and iPods and such like you had to actually leave your house to find out about new bands and new music. In the mid-nineties, on one of my many music-finding missions, I came across Telstar Ponies: a Glasgow band of considerable talent and rare ability. They weren’t around for long but they made a welcome impact on my musical outlook at the time. Well, with even the reformed Ponies on an open sabbatical at the moment it is a treat to introduce Porch Song Anthology.
How do you describe a side project that’s not really on the side of anything? Let’s say it’s a side progression. Taking the folk tendencies of Telstar and developing a sound reminiscent of Richard Thompson, Gillian Welch and countless blue-grass pluckers Porch Song Anthology has created an album of almost mythic quality. ‘Spell of the Trembling Earth’ looks and sounds like a long lost slice of American musical history. But it’s more than that – in blue-grass there is open reference to the Celtic musical tradition it was born of, this album sounds like the Celts reclaiming the sound but happily paying dues to those in the American South that have taken care of it for so long.
‘I belong to Jesus’ is a potent railroad sound that relives the borderline paranoia that seeps through lyrics of this type. Talk of judgement and mercy in the light of Jesus’ coming through the full-blown majesty of banjo and harmonica – it has the hallmark of authenticity all over it. ‘Carnival Hill’ relives some of the avant-garde guitar sounds that marked out Telstar Ponies back in the day – an aching sound that reflects the strung out lyrics perfectly. The high point of the album comes with ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ – it is described in the linear notes with the words “go far enough and you’ll find something worthwhile at the end”. A song of moving on and leaving behind your regrets is captured by a hypnotic combination of instruments and vocals. It’s a stark contrast to the cloudy ‘Ask the Dust’ which closes the album but that just makes the impact of both songs all the stronger. It’s unusual to find the last two songs on an album equally as strong as the openers but it makes for a very rewarding listening experience.
Spell of the Trebling Earth is probably the most honest and soulful album we’ll get the chance to hear this year – miss it at your peril.
>> Russell Moore
Now I’m not going to linger on this but back in the days before Myspace and iPods and such like you had to actually leave your house to find out about new bands and new music. In the mid-nineties, on one of my many music-finding missions, I came across Telstar Ponies: a Glasgow band of considerable talent and rare ability. They weren’t around for long but they made a welcome impact on my musical outlook at the time. Well, with even the reformed Ponies on an open sabbatical at the moment it is a treat to introduce Porch Song Anthology.
How do you describe a side project that’s not really on the side of anything? Let’s say it’s a side progression. Taking the folk tendencies of Telstar and developing a sound reminiscent of Richard Thompson, Gillian Welch and countless blue-grass pluckers Porch Song Anthology has created an album of almost mythic quality. ‘Spell of the Trembling Earth’ looks and sounds like a long lost slice of American musical history. But it’s more than that – in blue-grass there is open reference to the Celtic musical tradition it was born of, this album sounds like the Celts reclaiming the sound but happily paying dues to those in the American South that have taken care of it for so long.
‘I belong to Jesus’ is a potent railroad sound that relives the borderline paranoia that seeps through lyrics of this type. Talk of judgement and mercy in the light of Jesus’ coming through the full-blown majesty of banjo and harmonica – it has the hallmark of authenticity all over it. ‘Carnival Hill’ relives some of the avant-garde guitar sounds that marked out Telstar Ponies back in the day – an aching sound that reflects the strung out lyrics perfectly. The high point of the album comes with ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ – it is described in the linear notes with the words “go far enough and you’ll find something worthwhile at the end”. A song of moving on and leaving behind your regrets is captured by a hypnotic combination of instruments and vocals. It’s a stark contrast to the cloudy ‘Ask the Dust’ which closes the album but that just makes the impact of both songs all the stronger. It’s unusual to find the last two songs on an album equally as strong as the openers but it makes for a very rewarding listening experience.
Spell of the Trebling Earth is probably the most honest and soulful album we’ll get the chance to hear this year – miss it at your peril.
>> Russell Moore
