The Felice BrothersAsylum on The HillSelf Release Scratch Away the Veneer and Discover a Dark Musical Antidote To The World Around Us Just as I was getting over a bad cold in the middle of my December break my...
The Felice Brothers
Asylum on The Hill
Self Release
Scratch Away the Veneer and Discover a Dark Musical Antidote To The World Around Us
Just as I was getting over a bad cold in the middle of my December break my friend and #1 Americana Radio presenter, Mike Ritchie got in touch to ask if I knew that The Felice Brothers had just dropped a �secret release� via Bandcamp � I didn�t.
Normally with an album of this magnitude I like to let it mellow, playing it several times over a couple of days so I can unravel any mysteries in there before putting pen to paper � but here, in the week before Christmas I simply don�t have the time, so after one �play� over breakfast � here�s my excitable thoughts.
I wasn�t sure what to expect the way opening track Candy Gallows starts in a choral church like manner; was it a Christmas song? No; it�s an A-Typical Felice Brothers quirky noir drenched love song of sorts that builds like an epic poem set to a spectacularly and beautifully droll Country melody.
I�m not the Felice Brothers� biggest fan; it�s not that I don�t like them; but more I �appreciate them� more than anything else.
What I do know is that they are always capable of re-inventing themselves at will; and I believe that�s what they�ve done here; aligning their trademarked �sound� to a bunch of American Noir songs that will best be heard while curled up on the sofa, late at night with big mug of hot coffee as company.
I agree with my friends that are big Felice Brothers fans, that between them the writers here are very mature, clever and intricately �deep� and articulate in the way they write and arrange their songs; which really comes to the fire during When Suzie Was a Skeleton, Abundance and the title track Asylum on The Hill itself which will leave you with your jaw gaping wide open.
At times here I�ve found myself wondering why I�ve never really played their albums more than I have. Not just the individual songs; but the way they are sung appeal to me a lot more than I ever expected; for the uninitiated imagine Justin Townes Earle fronting The Cowboy Junkies singing some recently unearthed Leonard Cohen/Bob Dylan co-written Country songs �. seriously.
Although their melodies (esp: Macrame & Birds of The Wild West?) are easy on the ear; scratch away the veneer and the songs themselves are very much the opposite of �easy listening� �. and regularly challenging (What Will We Do Now? Long Dead Street Musician?); but that�s what attracts us to music like this isn�t it?
Then, there is Spring Gazing an almost Prog-Lite arrangement with a child reading a ghostly Edward Lear like poem that will send a shiver down your spine. It�s music Jim; just not as we understand it.
It�s far from easy; and I could well change my mind in March, but I�ve managed to narrow my choice of Favourite Song down to two very different, yet both intrinsically Felice Brothers� songs as my selection.
Teeth in The Tabloids is every bit as biting as the title suggests and feels as if it�s influenced by Metallica stripping away all of the �noise� and leaving us with something Kurt Cobain may have been proud of.
The other; Strawberry Blonde at face value is the most commercial song here, until you listen intently to the words �. and again; your jaw will drop and you will be forced to press repeat several times.
At first I thought releasing this album in Christmas week was quite a perverse thing to do; but with hindsight it�s probably an amazingly clever thing to do; as many of us get lost in the false bonhomie and fake camaraderie that is all pervading during the Holiday Period and need a dark antidote that we can hide away and immerse ourselves in �. and these songs will certainly fill that void; and continue to do so as our collective dark clouds gather and we feel the need to listen to like minded souls.
Released December 15th 2023
http://www.thefelicebrothers.com/
BUY DON�T SPOTIFY
https://thefelicebrothers-tl.bandcamp.com/album/asylum-on-the-hill
Mike Ritchie
https://www.mixcloud.com/dashboard/history/
