Another Farewell. HORSEBATH

Het muziekjaar 2025 is nog pril, maar met Another Farewell heeft de Canadese band HORSEBATH een rootsalbum gemaakt dat de lat hoog legt voor alles dat dit jaar nog gaat komen in het genre.

Er werd al een tijdje reikhalzend uitgekeken naar het debuutalbum van de uit het Canadese Nova Scotia afkomstige band HORSEBATH en toen ik het album had beluisterd begreep ik waarom. Met Another Farewell heeft HORSEBATH een rootsalbum gemaakt waarvan ik, en met mij waarschijnlijk vele anderen, alleen maar zielsgelukkig kan worden. Het is een album dat zich niet laat vastpinnen op een genre of een moment in de tijd, wat een gevarieerd album oplevert. Het is een album dat in muzikaal en vocaal opzicht de nodige kwaliteit heeft te bieden en die kwaliteit hoor je ook terug in de songs. Het debuutalbum van HORSEBATH overtuigt bijzonder makkelijk, maar wordt vervolgens beter en beter.

Ik weet niet heel veel over de Canadese band HORSEBATH (alleen hoofdletters), maar met name in kringen van liefhebbers van Amerikaanse rootsmuziek wordt er al een tijdje heel druk gedaan over het debuutalbum van de band, dat in januari dan ook verrassend de EuroAmericana chart aanvoert. Na beluistering begrijp ik de ophef rond Another Farewell wel.

HORSEBATH is een band uit het Canadese Nova Scotia, die zich inmiddels in Montreal heeft gevestigd, waar het debuutalbum van de band werd opgenomen. Another Farewell ontstond tijdens de vele kilometers die de band maakte tijdens het touren door het zeer uitgestrekte vaderland van de leden van de band.

Rootsmuziek uit Canada klinkt altijd net wat anders dan de rootsmuziek die in de Verenigde Staten wordt gemaakt en ook het debuutalbum van HORSEBATH klinkt anders dan de meeste andere albums die momenteel in het genre worden gemaakt, ook al vind de Canadese band de inspiratie vooral in het diepe zuiden van de Verenigde Staten.

Bij beluistering van Another Farewell vallen een aantal dingen op. Het eerste dat opvalt is dat de Canadese band met haar muziek door de tijd reist. Een aantal songs op het album hebben een duidelijke jaren 60 of jaren 70 vibe, maar HORSEBATH kan ook verder terug gaan in de tijd of juist dichter naar het heden opschuiven.

Het tweede dat opvalt is dat de band bestaat uit een aantal uitstekende muzikanten. Another Farewell is een prachtig klinkend album, dat track na track het oor streelt met geweldige gitaar- en keyboard partijen. De band kan uit de voeten met wat traditioneler aandoende Americana, maar kan ook zo de ‘summer of love’ induiken met langgerekte psychedelische klanken.

Another Farewell is zo’n album dat vrijwel onmiddellijk zorgt voor een gevoel van rust en gelukzaligheid en dat is precies wat we nodig hebben op het moment. HORSEBATH was tot dusver vooral een live-band, maar de fraaie wijze waarop ze hun muziek op de plaat hebben gekregen dwingt respect af.

De muziek van HORSEBATH klinkt niet alleen mooi, maar is ook verrassend veelzijdig. De Canadese band stapt niet alleen met zevenmijlslaarzen door de tijd, maar laat zich ook niet beperken tot één genre, wat ook te maken heeft met het feit dat de Canadese band meerdere getalenteerde songwriters in de gelederen heeft.

Hiermee hebben we nog niet alle sterke punten van het debuutalbum van HORSEBATH gehad, want de band beschikt ook nog eens over meerdere goede zangers. Het zorgt voor variëteit in de leadzang, maar het biedt ook de mogelijkheid om fraaie harmonieën toe te voegen aan de songs en dat is een mogelijkheid die HORSEBATH niet onbenut laat.

Persoonlijk vind ik vooral de zich langzaam voortslepende songs met flarden countryrock en een beetje psychedelica van een enorme schoonheid. Het zijn beeldende songs die goed zijn voor mooie beelden en een fijn gevoel, maar het zijn ook songs waar ik naar kan blijven luisteren en die me vooralsnog alleen maar dierbaarder worden.

Liefhebbers van Amerikaanse (en Canadese) rootsmuziek zijn er inmiddels al wel uit dat Another Farewell van HORSEBATH een sensationeel goed album is, maar ook liefhebbers van andere soorten muziek zouden zomaar verleid kunnen worden door dit prachtige album.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Another Farewell hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://horsebath.bandcamp.com/album/another-farewell

The Pattern Speaks. Skloss

Skloss is a totally new name for me. The duo from Glasgow and Austin has come into my life with a musical bang. This is psychrock territory with full on drumming, distorted guitars but also female/male vocals, that alternate throughout the songs.

A Glasgow - Austin duo? It must be a record. Not that long ago it would have been impossible. Modern communication is a treasure in many ways, let's not focus on the downsides while listening to The Pattern That Speaks. Neither speculate what the breaking down of inter-Atlantic relations could mean to modern communications.

My ears tell me that Skloss is not a duo where its music is concerned, as its songs are impossible to reproduce as is with just the two of them. There is a layer of guitars stacked on top of each other. Opening song 'The Pattern Speaks' may begin with one instrument, it sounds like a Hammond through a Lesley speaker, when the guitar comes in the duo setting is already let go off and that is only the start of the stacking, while not counting Karen Skloss' bass drum and singing. Soon after one after the other guitar, distorted, wobbly or both enter the mix.

Reading the bio, the distance becomes less spectacular as Skloss formed in Austin when husband and wife American drummer/vocalist Karen Skloss (Moving Panoramas) and Scottish guitarist/vocalist Sandy Carson (Iglomat) decided to work together leading to debut EP 'Voices Travel Through This' (2022). The next step is a debut album recorded with producer Charles Godfrey (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Swans). The result is an album that is some heavy shit. Think The Black Angels, also from Austin, and then take a left turn. Skloss starts where The Black Angels have reached its outer limits. 

'Imagine 100 Dads' is the example song for me. It starts with a psychedelicly sung intro, twice, first male than female. Without real lyrics it seems. Slowly more enters and the tension is built up, waiting for the explosion. It arrives like a slow burn. There is anger and then some more and some. Dark clouds hang over the song. The lead guitar sound reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins. Speaking moves to shouting and then yelling, if not fisticuffs, all translated into the music and the loudness of the guitars, ending in digital last breaths.

If you like this song, I'm sure that you'll find your way into the rest of the album. Expect to be pounded on your eardrums but also to be musically pleased.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order The Pattern Speaks here:

https://skloss.bandcamp.com/album/the-pattern-speaks

Out Of My Head. The D4

Once again we present three albums in far shorter reviews, as we do not want them to get away. Here's the third.

Out Of My Head is not a new album, far from even. It is re-released on vinyl in New Zealand for the first time ever. To celebrate the band is touring the country up and down. To think I've never even heard of the band, ever. Which is a shame, but then I only started to appreciate punk(rock) more in the past ten years, so it's only for the better that my introduction is in 2025 and not 2004.

Taking a look at Wikipedia I notice it's running behind, as it says The D4 was a band. It was formed late in 1998 by vocalist/guitarists Dion Palmer and Jimmy Christmas, with founding members English Jake and Rich Mixture, later replaced by Vaughan Williams (Vaughn) (bass) and Daniel Pooley (Beaver) (drums). In 2025 Williams is replaced by Jake Harding. In 2001 the band released its first album, '6twenty'. This one is the band's second and last album.

The re-release is totally justified. Out Of My Head is one big surge of energy. A song like 'Trust Nobody' is a top song in this genre. The kind to shout along to and go apeshit on at a live show. The contrast with the next song on the album is stark. The bluesy, Hammond organ driven 'Stops Me Cold' is so different and yet, so deliciously good. It has this tension, like Them's 'Gloria'. That song must have been its inspiration and then took off like was not imaginable in 1964. Some walking down the hall is involved here alright.

'Stops Me Cold' is an outlier though. The D4 mostly plays dirty punkrock and plays it well. The band toured the world for a few years supporting its records and with some modestly famous bands as well. In 2025 that will not change. I do hope that some more people pick this up, just like I have, as Out Of My Head is a good record.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can order the vinyl version of Out Of My Head here:

https://thed4.bandcamp.com/album/out-of-my-head-actual-shipping-prices-to-nz-and-aus-dont-show-until-last-step-before-making-purchase

Blindness. The Murder Capital

Once again we present three albums in far shorter reviews, as we do not want them to get away. Here's the second.

Blindness was on the point of receiving a review for a few weeks now and always was passed by. Partly because a download is so much easier to access than a link leading to a website where you can take a pre-listen. That email often simply disappears in the dozens and dozens coming in each week. The fact that Blindness kept hovering in the back of my mind, is telling of course.

Dublin's The Murder Capital has released its third album. With Fontaines DC having turned over the post punk page, The Murder Capital is now Dublin's front runner. Although I have both the band's previous albums, 'When I Have Fears' (2019) and 'Gigi's Recovery' (2023), they did not convince me in the long run. When all is said and done I miss melody in several songs, resulting in me stopping to play the album.

So with Blindness out for only a few days*, it is impossible to predict for sure where the album will go in the long run. As is usual by now for The Murder Capital albums, Blindness' rocking openers go down like the proverbial knife through butter. The opening songs are really strong and have my blood pumping. The whole band is going at it at full power. I have the impression no one is holding back. Singer James McGovern is at his most postpunk sounding. At the same time there is an effect on his voice that makes it sound a little metallic.

Take 'A Distant Smile'. The song has a 60s rock vibe but sounds so dirty at the same time. Just listen what that lead guitar is doing for most of the time. It's as if it wants to at a minimum escape from the song and at its worst kill it. Underneath it all is some kind of soundscape filling the whole of the mix. The result is a killer of a song.

Next some songs come along that are far less musical. The kind that make me doubt The Murder Capital all over again. In that it's not even that different from Fontaines DC but I nearly always remain on board with that band where I do not with The Murder Capital. That os the case with a song like 'The Fall'. Here the band really scores big in the postpunk universe. That much cannot be denied.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

*Before I stopped writing at the time.

 

You can listen to and order Blindness here:

https://themurdercapital.bandcamp.com/album/blindness

On The Brink. Brad Marino

Once again this week we present three albums in far shorter reviews, as we do not want them to get away. Here's the first.

Brad Marino released an album filled with leftovers and rarities. How is it possible that even his leftovers are so much fun? From beginning to end his rock pop songs sparkle and spread a smile on my face. Some may be in The Ramones style others more inclined to garagerock or powerpop from the late 70s, it simply doesn't matter. Brad Marino is in his element from song 1 right up to number 17. You may hear an odd cover here and there as well.

The album opens with 'Girl Like You' starting on a 60s vibe. From there you are taken on a music trip, including with a leftover from his work with Nathalie Sweet and two alternate versions from previous records at the end. 'Broken Record' is the final one. Whatever On The Brink may be, this record is not broken.

Brad Marino can be found on this blog since 2019 and my reviews start to sound like a broken record. His songs are simply always up to par. Without ever making the record of the year, Marino always releases a 7 or 8 out of 10 kind of record. All his songs have a clear head and tail, almost always contain a short but super sweet guitar solo, while three chords will often be enough to make his point. They simply beg to dance and/or sing along to. On The Brink is no exception as it simply is so much fun to listen to and Brad Marino is the kind of rocker the whole world ought to get familiar with, fast.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order On The Brink here:

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-brink