Utne Reader Music Reviews: July-August 2009

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Mining Millay
Songs for Edna
by Caroline Weeks (Manimal Vinyl)

At first blush, an entire album of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poems set to music might seem contrived, but Caroline Weeks manages to sound neither precious nor forced, marrying the poet’s heady verse to spare, hypnotic acoustic guitar. Despite the stripped-down instrumentation, the results are sensuous, not spartan. Like the music of her erstwhile bandmate Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes) and the reigning queen of neu-folk, Joanna Newsom, Weeks’ compositions are on the appealing side of weird, and her ethereal, witchy voice breathes new life into the poet’s words. Millay was famous for her free-spirited, bohemian lifestyle; she’s earned an acolyte and aesthetic heir in Weeks, whose songs reveal a similarly playful, mischievous temperament. —Jake Mohan

Wichita Soul Men
Eccentric Soul: Smart’s Palace
by various artists (Numero Group)

Smart’s Palace was the beating heart of the Wichita, Kansas, soul scene of the ’60s and ’70s. Giants like Aretha Franklin and James Brown would pass through the club, but the warm blood of the place was a cadre of horn-blowing brothers called the Smarts, who conformed to the soul orthodoxies of the era on record, but never on stage. Leroy “Iron Jaw” Smart would jump onto the dance floor into the splits, grab audience members by their belts with his teeth and spin them around. A roster of vibrant and quirky groups grew up around the brothers and their palace, and Smart’s Palace is a spirited document of this largely forgotten scene. —Jeff Severns Guntzel

Utne Reader Approved:

Samantha Crain’s dusky voice, impressionistic lyrics, and indie-edged Americana form the solid foundation of Songs in the Night (Ramseur), where she and her Midnight Shivers explore dark spaces with open hearts.

Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey gave the dBs sun-kissed harmonies way back in the 1980s. Here and Now (Bar None) finds them together again, mining pop history and their own hook-laden brains for pure pop delights.

Dan Deacon’s reputation as an electro-pop torchbearer rests on his euphoric performances. That ends with Bromst (Carpark), a pulsing, popping, and searing collection of songs that are accessible against all odds.

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