Crooked Still - Friends of Fall (EP)
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 11:36AM
Crooked Still - Freewheeling Boston acoustic ensemble celebrates their ten year anniversary and impending hiatus with this seven track collection that includes a handful of new songs as well as covers from Paul Simon, The Beatles and John Hartford...each member of the acclaimed string band chose one song to arrange and direct the band // Release: Friends of Fall (October 11, Signature Sounds) // Sounds like: Many have tried to mix a fresh contemporary outlook with traditional instruments and authentic bluegrass and Americana but few have succeeded to the extent that Crooked Still has...When Aoife O'Donovan sings "It'll end too soon if it ends at all" we realize just how much we'll miss them as they go their separate ways (hopefully for just a while) following an October/November tour...
Quote: The music is not just 'alternative bluegrass' or whatever people used to call it. It's at another level now: artful, but still grounded in that funky, string band thing." -- Brittany Haas of Crooked Still // What we like: the adaptation of Wendell Berry's poem "The Peace of Wild Things" is a marvel, O'Donovan's eiderdown-soft vocals and a gradually building melange of strings suddenly breaking free into the intricate, energized "Dayblind"...Paul Simon's classic pop hymn "American Tune" takes on a whole new feel as a simple banjo line sets the tone for the sweeping melody to come...
Crooked Still - "American Tune" (from Friends of Fall EP)
Crooked Still - "The Peace of Wild Things/Dayblind" (from Friends of Fall)
Stream the full Friends of Fall EP here.
Reader Comments (1)
Listening to her slightly flat, breathy singing on American Tune makes me wish it were being done by Alison Krauss and Union Station instead. Now, THAT would be a cover!