When it comes to roots, I don’t mind carrots and can handle parsnips in small doses, preferably in soup. I’m also rather partial to dandelion and burdock, and love pickled beetroot, although I learned the hard way during a experimental brewing phase that betroot wine really isn’t very nice. It has a terrible earthy taste. In fact, it’s like drinking soil, albeit very alcoholic soil, which means after a few glasses I didn’t really care.
The same principle can be applied to this album by Holy Vessels, self-professed are purveyors of ‘roots flavoured rock ‘n’ roll’, in that it’s greatly improved by the consumption of alcohol. Holy Vessels trade in that kind of spirited folky stuff that’s jaunty and accessible but doesn’t really leave all that much of a lasting impression (apart from the opener, ‘Golden Hair’ which is not a cover of the Syd Barrett song, is memorable for being repetitive, stupid and irritating). But that’s ok: bands like this have their place, and that place is usually in the corner of a pub. I suspect they know this, and ‘Last Orders At the Marshall Arms’ finds them working to their strengths as an act who’d be wrapping up their set to a bunch of boisterous revellers supping up after last orders. As such, the context is everything, and while the context of the live setting after a few pints is ideal, the context of hearing their studio work while sitting on my own in my living room on a cold, dark Sunday night while sipping a glass of Merlot isn’t really conducive.
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Holy Vessels Online
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