FRANKENPINE – IN THAT BLACK SKY
2012 – Self Released
This album contains some of the most eerie string band music you will have heard for a long time or are likely to hear anytime soon! It has it’s roots in the old timey music of the
Appalachians but is so much more, containing a strong folk element and even a gypsy jazziness blended into the mix of this exceptional album. There is a complex feel to every track on the album and other than the already mentioned genres there is nothing that they can really have used as a reference point,
other than their own imaginations! Consequently the recording has a natural feel as well as being highly original, with their often unusual blending of the instrumentation, frequently the bass usuage, added to some exceptional lead vocals, irrespective of whether male or female and some tremendous and evocative harmonies. It really is an album of music that doesn’t actually remind me of anyone else, with it’s hugely dramatic presentation and the often strange otherworldliness that creeps into most of their beautifully written and all original songs.
The five piece band consists of Kim Chase on vocals, guitar, percussion and xylophone, Matthew Chase plays Banjo, Colin DeHond, vocals, bass and percussion with Liz B. Rauch on vocals, fiddle and mandolin and Ned P. Rauch, vocals, guitar, mandolin and harmonium. The album was recorded and engineered by Jeff Oehler at the Rauch Family Barn, Cold Spring, NY, (making it virtually a home recording!) with additional recording by Frankenpine in Brooklyn and Beacon, NY. In the case of the exceptional songwriting it is fairly obvious that the band is very much a democracy, as can be expected with so many talented people to call upon, with Ned Rauch having slightly more credits than the others, although everyone is involved and there are a number of co-writes between various members of the band. Musically, whilst having much of the already mentioned old timey feel, they seem to vary chord changes much more and the individual instruments often go off in slightly different directions bringing a virtually impossible to define style to proceedings. At times there is an almost improvisational feel that seemingly blends folk and jazz into a genre of their own, with the emphasis weighted towards the former.
The album opener Anything That Shines, despite it’s lyrical edginess has a nice easy going feel musically,
with a strong melody, nice acoustic guitar and a raw but pleasant male vocal and gorgeous harmonies, gradually joined by gently plinking banjo and fiddle on a lovely easy going song that doesn’t really prepare the listener for the
darkness, both musically and lyrically that follows on many of the excellent songs. Iron Road has a gorgeous
female lead vocal and terrific harmonies that give the song a powerful, strange eerie atmosphere, combined with banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar on the highly descriptive and evocative tale of a ghost train. Oh My Darling has a front porch Appalachian feel on a lovely two part female harmony duet, occasionally joined by a male vocal to give a little edge, with excellent banjo driving the song on a really heartrending tale, followed by the contrasting Mr. Crook. This has a short bass introduction followed by banjo and guitar on a song that, in part due to the way the fiddle is used, has a gypsy jazzy atmosphere. The male vocal evokes a vaudevillian feel but with banjo and brushed snare eventually joined by mandolin the dynamic shifts slightly on a highly unusual tale of bad luck! Flood
Line has a slow moody slightly sinister sound, as befits a song with this subject matter, thanks in part to the addition of the harmonium but also the tempo and gorgeous female vocal on a tale driven by bowed bass on a quite
harrowing story of being trapped below the ‘flood line’. There is a tremendous banjo led but supported by harmonium instrumental, on which they are eventually joined by a nicely restrained fiddle in One Ninety Seven, followed by the dark, powerfully evocative Widow Paris, with it’s strong bass introduction, plus banjo and fiddle and a lovely female vocal on a dark song drenched in a New Orleans/Louisiana swampy voodoo atmosphere. Every song on the album has a strong poeticism, not something you expect when there is such a variety of writers, and whilst the atmosphere is predominately dark it is certainly not a depressing listen.
It always helps (me, at least!) if one or more comparisons can be made with other bands/artists, but in the case of Frankenpine that is almost impossible. I say almost because with repeated listening sessions I’m starting
to sense a similar dramatic atmosphere to recent ‘Southern Tenant Folk Union’ albums. Whilst there is a gulf between the two bands I suspect that anyone loving the music of one will feel the same about the other. I certainly
do!
http://frankenpinemusic.com/
This album contains some of the most eerie string band music you will have heard for a long time or are likely to hear anytime soon! It has it’s roots in the old timey music of the
Appalachians but is so much more, containing a strong folk element and even a gypsy jazziness blended into the mix of this exceptional album. There is a complex feel to every track on the album and other than the already mentioned genres there is nothing that they can really have used as a reference point,
other than their own imaginations! Consequently the recording has a natural feel as well as being highly original, with their often unusual blending of the instrumentation, frequently the bass usuage, added to some exceptional lead vocals, irrespective of whether male or female and some tremendous and evocative harmonies. It really is an album of music that doesn’t actually remind me of anyone else, with it’s hugely dramatic presentation and the often strange otherworldliness that creeps into most of their beautifully written and all original songs.
The five piece band consists of Kim Chase on vocals, guitar, percussion and xylophone, Matthew Chase plays Banjo, Colin DeHond, vocals, bass and percussion with Liz B. Rauch on vocals, fiddle and mandolin and Ned P. Rauch, vocals, guitar, mandolin and harmonium. The album was recorded and engineered by Jeff Oehler at the Rauch Family Barn, Cold Spring, NY, (making it virtually a home recording!) with additional recording by Frankenpine in Brooklyn and Beacon, NY. In the case of the exceptional songwriting it is fairly obvious that the band is very much a democracy, as can be expected with so many talented people to call upon, with Ned Rauch having slightly more credits than the others, although everyone is involved and there are a number of co-writes between various members of the band. Musically, whilst having much of the already mentioned old timey feel, they seem to vary chord changes much more and the individual instruments often go off in slightly different directions bringing a virtually impossible to define style to proceedings. At times there is an almost improvisational feel that seemingly blends folk and jazz into a genre of their own, with the emphasis weighted towards the former.
The album opener Anything That Shines, despite it’s lyrical edginess has a nice easy going feel musically,
with a strong melody, nice acoustic guitar and a raw but pleasant male vocal and gorgeous harmonies, gradually joined by gently plinking banjo and fiddle on a lovely easy going song that doesn’t really prepare the listener for the
darkness, both musically and lyrically that follows on many of the excellent songs. Iron Road has a gorgeous
female lead vocal and terrific harmonies that give the song a powerful, strange eerie atmosphere, combined with banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar on the highly descriptive and evocative tale of a ghost train. Oh My Darling has a front porch Appalachian feel on a lovely two part female harmony duet, occasionally joined by a male vocal to give a little edge, with excellent banjo driving the song on a really heartrending tale, followed by the contrasting Mr. Crook. This has a short bass introduction followed by banjo and guitar on a song that, in part due to the way the fiddle is used, has a gypsy jazzy atmosphere. The male vocal evokes a vaudevillian feel but with banjo and brushed snare eventually joined by mandolin the dynamic shifts slightly on a highly unusual tale of bad luck! Flood
Line has a slow moody slightly sinister sound, as befits a song with this subject matter, thanks in part to the addition of the harmonium but also the tempo and gorgeous female vocal on a tale driven by bowed bass on a quite
harrowing story of being trapped below the ‘flood line’. There is a tremendous banjo led but supported by harmonium instrumental, on which they are eventually joined by a nicely restrained fiddle in One Ninety Seven, followed by the dark, powerfully evocative Widow Paris, with it’s strong bass introduction, plus banjo and fiddle and a lovely female vocal on a dark song drenched in a New Orleans/Louisiana swampy voodoo atmosphere. Every song on the album has a strong poeticism, not something you expect when there is such a variety of writers, and whilst the atmosphere is predominately dark it is certainly not a depressing listen.
It always helps (me, at least!) if one or more comparisons can be made with other bands/artists, but in the case of Frankenpine that is almost impossible. I say almost because with repeated listening sessions I’m starting
to sense a similar dramatic atmosphere to recent ‘Southern Tenant Folk Union’ albums. Whilst there is a gulf between the two bands I suspect that anyone loving the music of one will feel the same about the other. I certainly
do!
http://frankenpinemusic.com/