SELF HELP GROUP – NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING
2013 – Union Music Store
If ever the term‘of an indeterminate genre’ was justified it is in the case of this beautiful debut album by the
Brighton based Self Help Group. It includes some of the most gorgeous, wistful melodies you are ever likely to hear and harmonies that stand comparison with Fleetwood Mac and Crosby Stills and Nash, but only if those multi platinum bands were at their very best. I wouldn’t presume to compare the songwriting yet, as it is much too early in the bands career, but certainly there is nothing wrong
lyrically and the music is just gorgeous. I was ill prepared for this album having just been listening to some hard driving punked up country music that echoes the hillbillies of old and then some, so the mellow beauty of these
harmony drenched songs on this recording came as a shock! However, we had only gone a couple of songs into the album and I was hooked totally. The generically indeterminate tag is probably a little over the top, but having not experienced music of this nature very often it is difficult to affix a label. There are elements of country, with the use of banjo and steel guitar, but the overall musical structure is certainly not country music, perhaps a folksy rootsiness, or echoes of that laid back southern Californian sound of the 1970s? In fact on reflection there is quite a lot of the latter on this tremendous, melody driven album.
The actual sound is a huge tribute to producer Jamie Freeman, giving great depth and openness to the
recording but never overdoing the instrumentation, imbuing the whole disc with a power and drive that really shouldn’t be possible when taking into account the mellowness of the music. Of course, he also had an excellent band to work with who fairly obviously started recording with a firm picture of where they wanted to go with the music. My guess is they are not the slightest bit disappointed with how it’s turned out! The band consists of Mark Bruce on vocals, guitars, banjo, charrango and keyboards, Clara Wood-Keeley and Sarah Natalie Wood, both on vocals and xylophone, Ian Bliszczak on bass and Paddy Keeley on banjo and guitar. They are supplemented by several other musicians, including producer Jamie Freeman on drums, percussion and guitar, with the other instruments being violin, cello, congas, piano and trumpet. Despite all of that instrumentation, most are used sparingly so that the general sound of the album is sparse and warm with the vocals, particularly the harmonies, dominating and plenty of wide open spaces, in many ways evoking a desert setting.
This album of twelve excellent songs kicks off with Needles,an ideal scene setter for what is to follow with its lovely smooth male and female three part harmonies on a song given a powerful helping of drama by the addition of
violin. Throughout the album it is often the use of the violin and banjo that contributes to the tension, ensuring the beauty of the music is never allowed to descend into blandness, a trap that many have fallen into in the past and no
doubt will in the future. The second song is Murmuration, with its introduction courtesy of a nice repetitive banjo sound which is enough to act as a counterpoint to the smoothness of the female harmonies, with the male serving more as a bass on a slow moody song interspersed with the violin and melodic guitar. The Rapture is a tremendous song that starts with acoustic guitar, joined by a trumpet on a song that has a really strong Calexico feel, thanks to the broad spacy sound that includes the now signature harmony vocals. Jerome & Irving is another song of outstanding beauty with a weeping steel guitar on a heartrendingly reflective tale that has the male vocal slightly in front of the female harmonies, again with the excellent bass allied to acoustic guitar. Final mention goes to the last song on the album Uniontown, a song of protest driven by the catchy repetitive banjo, with guitar and bass on a country song that contrasts the suffering of the inhabitants of a small Appalachian working community with the beauty of the music. An ideal conclusion to a gorgeous album!
It will be very interesting in the future to hear how they develop their sound but for the time being sit back and soak up the beauty of this recording that has a lovely mellow feel but also promisingly incorporates some drama and a little tension into the songs.
http://sitefy.com/theselfhelpgroup
If ever the term‘of an indeterminate genre’ was justified it is in the case of this beautiful debut album by the
Brighton based Self Help Group. It includes some of the most gorgeous, wistful melodies you are ever likely to hear and harmonies that stand comparison with Fleetwood Mac and Crosby Stills and Nash, but only if those multi platinum bands were at their very best. I wouldn’t presume to compare the songwriting yet, as it is much too early in the bands career, but certainly there is nothing wrong
lyrically and the music is just gorgeous. I was ill prepared for this album having just been listening to some hard driving punked up country music that echoes the hillbillies of old and then some, so the mellow beauty of these
harmony drenched songs on this recording came as a shock! However, we had only gone a couple of songs into the album and I was hooked totally. The generically indeterminate tag is probably a little over the top, but having not experienced music of this nature very often it is difficult to affix a label. There are elements of country, with the use of banjo and steel guitar, but the overall musical structure is certainly not country music, perhaps a folksy rootsiness, or echoes of that laid back southern Californian sound of the 1970s? In fact on reflection there is quite a lot of the latter on this tremendous, melody driven album.
The actual sound is a huge tribute to producer Jamie Freeman, giving great depth and openness to the
recording but never overdoing the instrumentation, imbuing the whole disc with a power and drive that really shouldn’t be possible when taking into account the mellowness of the music. Of course, he also had an excellent band to work with who fairly obviously started recording with a firm picture of where they wanted to go with the music. My guess is they are not the slightest bit disappointed with how it’s turned out! The band consists of Mark Bruce on vocals, guitars, banjo, charrango and keyboards, Clara Wood-Keeley and Sarah Natalie Wood, both on vocals and xylophone, Ian Bliszczak on bass and Paddy Keeley on banjo and guitar. They are supplemented by several other musicians, including producer Jamie Freeman on drums, percussion and guitar, with the other instruments being violin, cello, congas, piano and trumpet. Despite all of that instrumentation, most are used sparingly so that the general sound of the album is sparse and warm with the vocals, particularly the harmonies, dominating and plenty of wide open spaces, in many ways evoking a desert setting.
This album of twelve excellent songs kicks off with Needles,an ideal scene setter for what is to follow with its lovely smooth male and female three part harmonies on a song given a powerful helping of drama by the addition of
violin. Throughout the album it is often the use of the violin and banjo that contributes to the tension, ensuring the beauty of the music is never allowed to descend into blandness, a trap that many have fallen into in the past and no
doubt will in the future. The second song is Murmuration, with its introduction courtesy of a nice repetitive banjo sound which is enough to act as a counterpoint to the smoothness of the female harmonies, with the male serving more as a bass on a slow moody song interspersed with the violin and melodic guitar. The Rapture is a tremendous song that starts with acoustic guitar, joined by a trumpet on a song that has a really strong Calexico feel, thanks to the broad spacy sound that includes the now signature harmony vocals. Jerome & Irving is another song of outstanding beauty with a weeping steel guitar on a heartrendingly reflective tale that has the male vocal slightly in front of the female harmonies, again with the excellent bass allied to acoustic guitar. Final mention goes to the last song on the album Uniontown, a song of protest driven by the catchy repetitive banjo, with guitar and bass on a country song that contrasts the suffering of the inhabitants of a small Appalachian working community with the beauty of the music. An ideal conclusion to a gorgeous album!
It will be very interesting in the future to hear how they develop their sound but for the time being sit back and soak up the beauty of this recording that has a lovely mellow feel but also promisingly incorporates some drama and a little tension into the songs.
http://sitefy.com/theselfhelpgroup