09.07.06
Wrinkle Neck Mules – Pull the Break
This band was recommended to us probably upwards of ten different times by different people (and over and over again by a couple persistent lunatics).
Alright then, let’s do it up.
The Wrinkle Neck Mules. They also have a MySpace, naturally, if you’re more of the stalking type. The one-eared mule head furry on their website is creepeh. If you think SciFi Channel original programming is scary, stay away from the website. Oh, look, they’re gonna be in Nashville on the 20th of September at the Americana Music Conference (along with so so many other people, post all about that to follow).
If you like ’90’s alt.country, you’ll love this album, Pull the Brake. You’ve got the multiple lead singers, twangy guitar, banjo plucking, low-fi production, randomly Southern themes, and combination of earnestness and irony in the lyrics. Personally, this works for me and has for a long time. There’s only so many times you can listen to Anodyne or Pneumonia, so I’m all for bands continuing this sound. [I'm on this train, it was good music then and it passes the time test. I'm glad to still be able to find it in new and different configurations.—Cricket]
“Light of Day” is a stand out track, with such lyrics as: Strung out on methadone and all her excuse is/she’s scared of the blues and the greys. I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but I like to pretend she’s afraid of Civil War reenactors. [My favorite here is: Halfway smoked cigarettes and all kinds of bad news lingering around her lips. Yeah, it's a great song.—Cricket]
“Strangers/Sojourners” is a very lovely instrumental piece, melancholy and feeling a little bit like looking out of the window at the rain when you were already feeling down, the sky matching your mood and reinforcing it. [You can almost hear the raindrops in the plucking here, but it sounds cheerful to me. Must be the Northwestern girl in me that romanticizes the rain.—Cricket]
“Weeps” starts out with the line took the doors off the hinges today. Most people now-a-days haven’t ever been to a wake with a body laid out in someone’s front room, and a detail like that is surprising in a song written by contemporaries of ours. The imagery sticks with you. I’m often of two minds of “traditional” songs written by people born after 1970—sometimes I laugh and think the word POSER really loudly in my brain, sometimes it works for me, making me remember that people can feel an affinity for something they’ve never really known (if that weren’t the case we wouldn’t have historical novels or period piece films/theater). In country music, there’s often a sense of nostalgia for “the old days” that usually gets expressed in dirges and murder ballads. This is in that vein. Some of the lyrics don’t work for me, but the overall tone and theme do. ["San Gabriel" makes me think of families escaping the Dust Bowl in the 30s and heading out west to find work when there was no agriculture to sustain folks during the Depression. It carries that hint of the old-timey that changes how I'd hear the same lyrics otherwise. "Push the Pedal," and "Okeechobee" also are filled with sound that carries potentially timeless lyrics back and make you feel like the whole song is much older than it really is. I think this is one of my favorite things about this band.—Cricket]
In a completely shocking turn of events, the tracks on this album that stick close to the faded echo of what “traditional” music means to postmodern America work for me, while the tracks where they get caught up in busying it all up with too much orchestration don’t.
If you like Uncle Tupelo [or Son Volt, or the Goodbye Sons or The Pawtuckets or a bunch of others.—Cricket], you’d be doing yourself a favor to buy this record. If you’re gonna be around TN, GA, VA, KY or NYC this fall you should check the dates and go give’em a listen live.
[This album is totally going into my regular rotation, for all the reasons and songs mentioned above and also for the tracks "Eyes Down," "Lowlight," and "Dust of Saturday." The usual country music themes, drinking, death, lonely misery, all appear here and baby, that's just the way I like it.—Cricket]
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legato said,
September 8, 2006 at 10:56 am
So I went and bought this album after reading your review here. (ya’ll have given me no reason to question your judgment yet) I too think I will place this in regular rotaion. On first listen Okeechobee hits my homesick ass right in the heart. I already put them on my calender for sep 28th in NYC.
Thanks.
Brynwulf said,
September 8, 2006 at 9:43 pm
I think my favorite on that album is Put Your Guitars Where Your Mouth Is. Their other CD, Minor Enough is great too, but you probably know that.
High Sierra Dawgs said,
September 11, 2006 at 12:12 am
Don’t know if Bryn was one of the lunatics, moi, or both of us but I think you’ve both done a dang good job breaking them down. PTB and Minor Enough have and will be in my rotation for years to come, until I get them to tour out West.
One of my faves when I’m dark is the minor key, brooding, Low Light. Creepy. Bonnie “Prince” Billy provides back-up vocals. One of my fave break-up songs (Not dark on my terms lol) is Dust of Sunday. Pretty clear-cut: “You go your way, I’ll go mine”. Or the realization that “church goin’ wimin’” is no good substitute for giving up whiskey on Light of Day. Church going men won’t suffice for the HCT gals either, I’ll bet. Truism.