Customer Reviews

Dirty Sky

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Beginning with its preternatural ballads, Costy L.'s "Dirty Sky" almost seems an account of an angel cast down to earth to bear for us our sins ("A Witch" ends: The coals of her body since then \ in my suffering soul lie) and, in the title-track, we find a testament to how filthy and low-lying the estranging sky seems to such a one. While with us, however, Costy L. finds refuge in the blues forms of the earth-bound, from the traditional slide in "97 Years Old" to the modern Page-like riffs adding dramatic effect to "Burnt Grass Tale" and others. Yet, in his blues, he recalls the musical forms of that other life: from the classical finger-style techniques in "Damn the Distance" to the album's percussion, which consists of conga, djembe and udu drum. It's these elements which make one anxious in assuming too much influence; indeed, Costy L. has created a blues of elevated form, melding his musical backgrounds in the instrumental blues-myth-making "Blues Fire" and leaving it puzzling but to imagine an original genius to this blues.

Warning: This music is not for the faint of heart! It's dark and rich with heavy lyrics woven into a thick tapestry of sometimes sultry melodies and stirring rhythms. His guitar playing just takes me away. It's like being on a caravan traveling from Kabul to Memphis with stops in medieval England and Spain. When I listen to this CD I can almost smell the spice and camp fire smoke and imaging a thunder storm looming over the horizon while I listen to his stories and poems. I like the rawness of his voice. It makes the songs "real" and adds an element of tension to his lyrics. It's the only CD of his I can find anywhere, though. With any luck we'll be seeing more! I highly recommend this CD for anyone who's sick of top-40/alternative-overproduced-shoved-down-our-throats-industry-formula music. Costy L, if your listening, keep it up.