THE AGNOSTIC GOSPEL CHOIR are clearly folk who like upping the enigma ante. For starters, though their name suggests they are from the wilds of the Appalachian Mountains, the reality is that they're four dudes from the fine Canadian city of Calgary. Secondly, their fascinating, but dislocated blend of firewater-breathin' country-folk mostly sounds like it was laid down in either an obscure Mississippi barn or straight to tape in a style similar to the early blues pioneers like Robert Johnson and Charley Patton rather than something akin to a modern recording facility.
None of which makes their potent, blues-addled hollerin' any less stupendous when you're in possession of the facts, and by the time you've lived with it for a while it's no surprise that their new album 'Ten Thousand' is making such a good job of uniting the sometimes exclusive roots and rock audiences.
After all, there's plenty here for anyone with an open mind and even a passing interest in the blues/country tradition to latch onto, though it must be said the Agnostics' approach is often unorthodox to say the least. Let's face it, any band with a full-bearded frontman playing a 'Deliverance'-style banjo and hollerin' like the love child of Tom Waits and David Eugene Edwards is going to stand out from the crowd and indeed said frontman Judd Palmer's gravelly invective on songs like 'Go Back Home' and 'Dumb It Down' is positively unearthly. Then there's drummer Pete Balkwill. Clearly nobody told him drummers don't usually operate with a second bass drum replacing regular rack toms or that cymbals aren't usually swapped for what sounds like a discarded army helmet. Or, for that matter, that his playing on tracks like 'Never Be Dead' and 'The Boig' sound like someone being repeatedly coshed with a lead pipe rather than drumming per se. Yet in this bizarre context it all seems to fall into place perfectly.
Because there's no denying that the AMGC write some brilliantly malevolent tunes. Nearly all their songs seem to circle relentlessly like vultures after a month on the Atkins diet and whether they have their beady eyes on tender prey like the brooding'n'minimal likes of 'Dark Holler' or home in on the lunatic railroad rhythms of 'You Got It Wrong' and 'Nehemiah's Misfortune' they bring us a package stuffed full of redemption, sin, vengeance and loneliness that's simply too tasty not to sink your claws into.
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And, while there's nowt wrong with the Agnostics' originals, they do seem to have indulged in a variation on the old 'Crossroads'-scenario at some stage, for only the work of the chap with the pointy tail can account for the quality of their covers: in this case the lurching folk and memorable field hollering of Dewey Balfa's 'La Valse De Balfa' and the gleeful, fork-tongued guitars that bite and snap their way through the Agnostics' fantastic versions of Sleepy John Estes' 'Stop That Thing' and Son House's 'Empire State Express'. Despite stiff competition, this latter is quite possibly the finest thing TAMGC have recorded to date.
So, while it's cranky, ornery and quite possibly unlawful, 'Ten Thousand' is a runaway success. The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir may not be the only outfit currently mining this stream of backwoods brilliance at present (The Cave Singers and Tall Firs are coming up on the rails) but the seam they have struck is particularly rich and resonant and suggests they will live to enjoy the fruits of the gold rush before the tumbleweed rolls in.
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