You could argue that starting a band when no-one can play their instruments properly is still the purest form of Punk Rock expression. Certainly when brothers Ian and James Felice roped three of their mates in and founded THE FELICE BROTHERS in 2006, none of them had ever seriously picked up an instrument before. Bearing this in mind, that they should be topping and tailing album number four a mere five years later is really quite an achievement.
Maybe this almost idiot savant attitude of just trying anything that sounds right to the band’s collectively untrained ear is why their new record - ‘Celebration, Florida’ - sounds so damn otherworldly. Although it’s brought to us by quality, Roots-inclined Loose Records, it’s not really an ‘Americana’ record per se, but then trying to pigeonhole it is more slippery than trying to catch eels in a barrel of grease.
Let’s start at the beginning. Apparently, ‘Celebration, Florida’ is named after a Disney-built new town which is allegedly an attempt to bring to reality the sort of all-American, apple-pie munching community popular in Disney productions. Having never been anywhere near Florida, I can’t really comment on the concept, but I can say that if it’s populated by the peculiar folk starring in these unlikely tales then you might not want to scratch at the surface too hard.
To their credit, The Felice Brothers still haven’t graduated to a recording ‘studio’ as such. Most of their previous three LPs were laid down in a converted chicken coop facility, but this time they’ve graduated to the gym and theatre of Beacon, NY’S old high school. The resulting theatrical vibe has done them no harm, because there’s a distinctly cinematic feel to tracks like the somnambulant noir-ish wash of ‘Container Ship’ or ‘Back in the Dancehalls’ with its’ nocturnal violin, low-key beats and atmosphere akin to The Postal Service.
Elsewhere, a similarly arcane, vaudevillian vibe threatens to swamp ‘Oliver Stone’, while the spirit of Tom Waits hovers over ‘Dallas’, proffering a lop-sided smile and a bottle of bourbon. It’s by no means all jazz-tinged melancholy though. On the Scooby Doo-ish mystery tale ‘Honda Civic’, accordions, Soulful horns and disco-style beats push the groove onwards and upwards, while on the gripping ‘Ponzi’, a Wall Street scandal and pyramid scheme fraud hits rather too close to home (“He takes you to Palm Beach, now your wedding’s arranged”) for the song’s hapless protagonist.
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There are a few head-scratchers, not least the lyrically abstract ‘Refrain’ and the wonky, drunken rambling of ‘Best I Ever Had’, but the monolithically funereal closer ‘River Jordan’ (which reminds me of Thin White Rope’s wonderfully bleak ‘Dinosaur’) provides a suitably graceful, yet unclassifiable finale.
That The Felice Brothers continue to feel their way as musicians as they go along seems to be serving their cause well. Their ability to blend unlikely elements, atmospheres and narratives works to their advantage for the most part and suggests whichever sweet way they turn in the future it will be worth following the trail. Would I move to ‘Celebration, Florida’? Probably not. But I’d risk a short stay in their Disney-designed motel for a spot of people watching if the characters in these vivid songs remain in town.
The Felice Brothers website"
Loose Music online
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