The Felice Brothers
Asylum on The Hill
Self Release
Scratch Away the Veneer and Discover a Dark Musical Antidote To The World Around Us
Just as I was getting over a bad cold in the middle of my December break my friend and #1 Americana Radio presenter, Mike Ritchie got in touch to ask if I knew that The Felice Brothers had just dropped a ‘secret release’ via Bandcamp … I didn’t.
Normally with an album of this magnitude I like to let it mellow, playing it several times over a couple of days so I can unravel any mysteries in there before putting pen to paper … but here, in the week before Christmas I simply don’t have the time, so after one ‘play’ over breakfast – here’s my excitable thoughts.
I wasn’t sure what to expect the way opening track Candy Gallows starts in a choral church like manner; was it a Christmas song? No; it’s an A-Typical Felice Brothers quirky noir drenched love song of sorts that builds like an epic poem set to a spectacularly and beautifully droll Country melody.
I’m not the Felice Brothers’ biggest fan; it’s not that I don’t like them; but more I ‘appreciate them’ more than anything else.
What I do know is that they are always capable of re-inventing themselves at will; and I believe that’s what they’ve done here; aligning their trademarked ‘sound’ to a bunch of American Noir songs that will best be heard while curled up on the sofa, late at night with big mug of hot coffee as company.
I agree with my friends that are big Felice Brothers fans, that between them the writers here are very mature, clever and intricately ‘deep’ and articulate in the way they write and arrange their songs; which really comes to the fire during When Suzie Was a Skeleton, Abundance and the title track Asylum on The Hill itself which will leave you with your jaw gaping wide open.
At times here I’ve found myself wondering why I’ve never really played their albums more than I have. Not just the individual songs; but the way they are sung appeal to me a lot more than I ever expected; for the uninitiated imagine Justin Townes Earle fronting The Cowboy Junkies singing some recently unearthed Leonard Cohen/Bob Dylan co-written Country songs …. seriously.
Although their melodies (esp: Macrame & Birds of The Wild West?) are easy on the ear; scratch away the veneer and the songs themselves are very much the opposite of ‘easy listening’ …. and regularly challenging (What Will We Do Now? Long Dead Street Musician?); but that’s what attracts us to music like this isn’t it?
Then, there is Spring Gazing an almost Prog-Lite arrangement with a child reading a ghostly Edward Lear like poem that will send a shiver down your spine. It’s music Jim; just not as we understand it.
It’s far from easy; and I could well change my mind in March, but I’ve managed to narrow my choice of Favourite Song down to two very different, yet both intrinsically Felice Brothers’ songs as my selection.
Teeth in The Tabloids is every bit as biting as the title suggests and feels as if it’s influenced by Metallica stripping away all of the ‘noise’ and leaving us with something Kurt Cobain may have been proud of.
The other; Strawberry Blonde at face value is the most commercial song here, until you listen intently to the words …. and again; your jaw will drop and you will be forced to press repeat several times.
At first I thought releasing this album in Christmas week was quite a perverse thing to do; but with hindsight it’s probably an amazingly clever thing to do; as many of us get lost in the false bonhomie and fake camaraderie that is all pervading during the Holiday Period and need a dark antidote that we can hide away and immerse ourselves in …. and these songs will certainly fill that void; and continue to do so as our collective dark clouds gather and we feel the need to listen to like minded souls.
Released December 15th 2023
http://www.thefelicebrothers.com/
BUY DON’T SPOTIFY
https://thefelicebrothers-tl.bandcamp.com/album/asylum-on-the-hill
Mike Ritchie
https://www.mixcloud.com/dashboard/history/
The Rocking Magpie 