I’m just back from a workout and
feeling flush with endorphins. Despite all the little reasons I will give myself
to skip going to the gym, I never regret it when I do go. It feels good to stay
fit, even at the very average level I maintain.
Disc 599 is….Dead & Born & Grown
Artist: The
Staves
Year of Release: 2012
What’s up with the Cover? I found this a very
pleasant cover. It is the colour you
might paint your walls if you were selling your house – an inoffensive light tan
– and the lettering is rustic but respectable.
All about the letters are simple little images that are fun to search
out while you let the disc spin.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila often gets me a music
magazine for Christmas and in 2012 she bought me one dedicated to indie and
folk music. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was packed with reviews of
all kinds of bands I’d never heard of. Over several months I sought out all the
artists on Youtube that I thought I’d like. The Staves were one of only a few that
stuck, and so I bought their album online when I realized I’d never find it in
local stores.
How It Stacks Up: This is the only full length LP by the Staves, and
although they have a couple EPs preceding it, I don’t have those, so there is
nothing to ‘stack up’ against.
Rating: 3 stars but almost 4.
When you first hear a band can be almost
as important as the music itself. If I had encountered the Staves twenty years
ago when I was wholly committed to folk music, they might’ve been one of my
favourite bands. As it is, they are still pretty damned good, but these days I’m
into so many different styles of music concurrently I can’t give them the full
ear they deserve.
Of course, if I had known the
Staves twenty years ago, they would probably have been toddlers, since they’ve
only been on the music scene about three years and are still very young. As
debut full-length albums go, “Dead & Born & Grown” is an impressive
start that shows a lot of promise for the future.
The album is contemporary folk
music, and has a lot in common with Canadian act the Wailin’ Jennys, in
that it features three gifted vocalists who sing beautiful harmonies together.
In the case of the Staves the three vocalists are sisters – Emily, Jessica and
Camilla Stavely-Taylor. Good call on not
using your full surnames, ladies.
The musical structure reminded me
strongly of Simon and Garfunkel throughout, particularly on “In the Long Run” which has uncanny similarities
with the Simon and Garfunkel song “April,
Come She Will” while avoiding being derivative.
The guitar playing is handled principally
by Jessica Stavely-Taylor. The songs are not hard to play (I imagine) but to
play them as free and easy as Jessica does is another matter. She keeps the
mood relaxed and lets the blending of the three voices take centre stage over
the free and easy style.
Sister Camilla fills in on a
couple of tracks with the ukulele. I usually prefer a mandolin to a ukulele when
given the choice but for this album, I have to admit the ukulele is the right
vibe. It has a childlike-wonder quality to it that suits these songs, which are
very wide-eyed and open-hearted.
In some ways I’d like the album to
have a bit more edge to it. It took several listens to realize some of the
songs (like “Tongue Behind My Teeth”)
have anger in them, but the gentle rolling harmonies soften everything, kind of
like a blanket of snow; cold but comforting at the same time. A little more
edge would be welcome, but then again maybe it would crush the vibe.
Snow and wintry imagery feature
prominently and they create an atmosphere of quiet contemplation like you get
when you’re out for a long walk in the snow with no one else around. Even the
title of the album implies winter comes first in the rotation (first comes
death and only later birth and growth), and the songs tend to start with a
starkness from which wisdom emerges.
That said, the lyrics on “Dead
& Born & Grown” are still the work of a band finding its way. They do a
better job of establishing a mood than painting a picture, and I found myself
wishing they would do both. I’m greedy that way, and I think lyrics are a big
part of the folk music experience – more important than in some other genres. I
do love this little section from “Wisely
and Slow”:
“Tender woman mourns a man
Sits in silent sorrow
With a bottle in her hand.”
It reminded me of these lines from
Gordon Lightfoot’s “Circle of Steel”:
“Deck The Halls was the song they played
In the flat next door where they shout all day
She tips her gin bottle back till it's gone.”
Another sad winter song!
Less impressive is the F-bomb
dropped uncomfortably into the middle of “Pay
Us No Mind.” I won’t quote it, except to say it is the only curse on the
record, and feels like a cheap – and ultimately unsuccessful – attempt to squeeze
some rebellion out of a song.
Another minor gripe is that both
the album title and a couple of tracks make gratuitous use of the ampersand. Please
just spell out ‘and’ – it is a perfectly good word.
However these are minor trifles
for an album that made me feel very at ease. This is a record that lets your
mind relax without making it lazy. It reminds me that youth isn’t always in a
hurry, but is every bit as capable at finding wisdom and grace as age,
sometimes more so. It has me excited to see what these sisters are going to do
for an encore.
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