Customer Reviews

Witch Season

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Court and Spark's newest, Witch Season, is a fabulously mood-altering experience. Instead of being a strictly melancholy voice like other contemporaries of their genre (such as Handsome Family, Lambchop, My Morning Jacket), they choose to present their unique blend of Burrito Bros. country and modern indie pop/americana/no depression-ish with an overarching sense of wonder.

Sure, the occasional hint of dark enters the mix, but the general feel of the album is one of any given week- there will be ups, and there will be downs. It's all part of a well rounded life, and it makes for a very well-balanced release.

The production is flawless, with lead singer M.C. Taylor's soothing voice meshing seasmlessly into the twang-lounge backdrop of the instrumental track. This is not hard-hitting rock; it's an exercise in exploring the boundaries of country and lounge jazz.

Hopefully Amazon will soon have samples to peruse. This is definitely my first must-have album of the fall.

While not as dense and expirimental as their last full length, Witch Season is still a highly gratifying listen. C&S still go for mood first and foremost. Many of the songs like Sundowner and Denver Annie sound more romantic than anything they've ever done, while With the Horseshoe King and Swimming Endlessly is rather melancholy. The sound on the album is full and repeat listens will unearth a wealth of subtle diverse instrumentation.

I first heard C&S in 2002 listening to an NPR review of their "Bless You" album. I was instantly hooked, and since then they have been the music I most want to play and the kind I most identify with. Every weekend I'd find solace playing their singular blend of American roots music and electronic impressionism that forms for me the perfect balance of figurative and abstract music. This is an alt-country with the accent on the alt. The twang sounds utterly authentic, drawn from the music native to this soil since the Indians were booted off of it, but never jingoistic and riff-reliant like so much so called Country or Country & Western music is. Folks have compared their music to that of Gram Parsons, but as lead songwriter/singer M.C. Taylor has the courage to affirm, Parsons' music is good but kind of overrated. Listening to the C&S is to be treated to an almost symphonic representation of the post-Gold Rush American sensibility, with sonic impressions of the (western) American landscape that brilliantly mirror the terrain of the inner psyche. The music ventures into the dark lands, into dissonant, blighted passes, but always brings you back, in its own sweet time, to the rich California sunlight via the dry, warm, near-cracking voice of Taylor, singing compelling yet dusky lyrics in tones as assuring as those of the old men of the mountain. The pedal steel guitar whimpers, stokes, and sweeps emotively, lighting up a dark canvas like the headlights on a distance car brightening a lonely desert night. Playing music so exquisitely layered,this band has earned the twang it renders with not a hint of self-conscious hoke that almost every other so-called country artist has. C&S has managed to reproduce what seems to be the true pace of time, at times excruciatingly but redeedingly slow, like a flower opening to the sun, or a heart opening up to a lover. The band will not be rushed for no one, not for quick recogniation of a hit single, not for any musical fashion. This is the real deal, folks. At times the delicate quality of the music harkened me back to the music of the late-discovered British 60s folksinger Nick Drake, whose wispy strum and strings-aided music was crafted, in part, by Joe Boyd of Witch Season Productions. I gather that there is some allusion to Drake's music in the titling of this album. For me, though, all five of their records represent a continuous work that stretches the frontiers of American music, and does so with tremendous melodic grace and musical and psychical integrity. This is only the beginning of what I'll be writing about them; I hope to write a full-length magazine piece on the band in the coming months. Get this band's records! (The LP of "Bless You" is phenomenal!)

I'm a fan of Alternative Country, while listening to online radio stations I came across this group. The style is very smooth and really easy to listen to. Its not really country, but it doesn't really fit into any other category either.

A perfect cd to pop in, and not have to really think about anything, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Some are instrumental, while others are really catchy, stuck in your head type of songs.

My stand out favorites are:
"Sundowner, You" - This is the song that just sticks with me, and is the reason for me getting the cd.

"Denver Annie" - wonderful beat, and tempo. Flows really well. A great story song that will have you snapping your fingers to the beat.

"Suffolk Down Upon the Night" - another rich beat tune that is perfect for zoning out to.

You could waste a lot of time trying to describe what this record does and does not sound like, and in fact some of the previous reviews have done a better job of that than I could have, so I will simply add this: this is probably one of the five best records in my collection. It's worth whatever they charge here. Pay for fast shipping.

Did M. C. Taylor, the lead singer/writer of Court and Spark, really say Gram Parsons is overrated? (See Charles Hayes' review.) I don't think Parsons is overrated (maybe overworshipped), but I can see why someone with the tastes evident in this recording might have reservations about Parsons. Parsons deserves the credit he gets for helping turn a segment of rock in a new direction, and he was rough and soulful in a winning way that's still fresh. Court and Spark has those qualities too, but any roughness is accompanied by a finely tuned sense of detail and crystal clear production that's unlike anything Parsons did. There's an openness to the production that allows each sound to be appreciated, savored.

These are people who love sound as sound, and who have the taste to bring together sounds that are unexpected in a way that complements the basic soulfulness of the music. In this respect they remind me of the later Beatles, though C & S is firmly rooted in country music. This is a work of art in a way that's unusual for popular music. The attention to detail is exquisite, but the heart is all there too.