After a year away celebrating the anniversary of the legendary Night of the Wolverine album Dave Graney and Clare Moore return to new releases with a sumptuous 15 track album called (strangely) (emotional). This is, for the most part a duo offering, with the majority of instruments being played by Dave (guitars, bass, autoharp, harmonica, vocals) and Clare (drums, vibes, keys, percussion, backing vocals). They are joined by Shane Reilly (Lost Ragas) pedal steel on the opening track, Dave Wray (who also appeared on 2022’s In A Mistly) on tenor and soprano sax for three songs, Genevieve Fry (Cold Hands Warm Heart) on harp on one song, Will Hindmarsh (aka Twinkledigitz) and Emily Jarrett on backing vocals on two songs and Catherine McQuade, bass and mixing on another. The album was mastered by beats / hip hop producer and drummer Plutonic Lab who collaborated with Dave on the homage track Grace Tame is President in 2022.
The last few years of the Graney and Moore journey has been characterised by a move between rock/band focused material and more duo/song collections. This album falls into the latter camp. The title reflects the fragile nature of discourse and dialogue in a time where what you say and do has to be managed with care.
The production values on this release are stunning. With the emotive swells of Reilly’s pedal steel on opening track “Back In A Day” you are transported into a remarkable place where plucked guitar, Fry’s Harp, and Dave’s verbal dexterity (effectively multi-tracked with echo) all combine in a unique musical offering which can only be found on a Graney and Moore album. I’ve been rewatching the original series of Twin Peaks on Paramount+ recently and there are echoes back to Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting themes on that show in this track.
There is also a reflective feel to the album which is exemplified on the second track “Family Gatherings” where Dave explores his family tree using his signature blend of vocal and guitar (similar to the material on 2014’s Fearful Wiggings album). Following track “My Cancellation Came Through” adopts familar neo-blues riffing, a familiar Dave “aaahh” and plaintive soprano sax from Wray (almost Surmanesque) – I was taken back to 2009 and the Knock Yourself Out album and oddly also Sonic Youth’s “Disconnection Notice” from the Murray Street album. There’s a degree of abstraction lyrically here which is captivating, I think I need to see the words written down before I completely understand the meaning and intent but I guess there is something about “cancel culture” in their somewhere, I could be wrong, but there is also a feel of the sense of freedom achieved by stepping away from the limelight of success.
Single “Creative Creep” has a swagger which is neatly restrained and is the first track on the album which uses percussion as a driver. Again the multi-layered vocals create a fascinating sound-scape wherein Dave celebrates his method/schema. Wray is there again, albeit somewhat buried in the mix. I imagine a dusty bar late at night where the smell of spilled beer and rot-gut whisky fights for dominance in a smoke filled atmosphere.
“Love Story” is perhaps one of the more conventional songs on the album, however things are all relatively placed in Graney world, we are not slipping into anything commercial here. Mutant lounge-singer/soft rock mode is in full effect for the most part. Wray plays it straight with familiar runs which wouldn’t be out of place on a David Sanborn mid-90s offering. Wah-wah guitar occasionally pokes through. Further analysis reveals that there is a hell of a lot going on here.
“I Said No To Myself” feels like a big ballad from movie, but also has a call back to some of the quieter Coral Snakes numbers. Will and Emily add choral vocals to great effect. Clare brings out the Vibes for the jazzy “Ice Bergman” the title of which lead me on a confusing google search journey into a wiki about an American cartoon called “My Gym Partner’s a Monkey”. I’m sure Dave will explain the relevance at some point – the often repeated phrase ‘I’m Gonna Be Old In The End Times’ stays with you for a while. We stray into Bacharach and David territory for the moreish “They Walk Among Us”, a Pynchonesque/Ericksonesque ramble with a 60s guitar motif and current cultural reference wrapped up in Haight-Ashbury haze – David Gates meets Jerry Garcia somewhere on the San Andreas fault line. The undercurrent of Americana continues with the airy “He’s Talking To His Base” which I assume is a veiled attack on the state of politics in the world today. Impressive layers of guitar dominate. “I’ll Cluster It” is soft rock with the unique Graney verbal dexterity in place, with “Theme From A Summer Place” strings, and again those wonderful interlocking guitars.
“Already Missing The Lockdown” initially strips things down to basic percussion, and guitar, a reflection on Covid times, familiar chords and descending/ascending melody lines. The song builds as other elements are bought into play, melodica, marimba, and keyboards. Delightful. Pandemic matters continue with the blues of “Poor Covid” wherein Dave touches on the excuses for poor government/administration that are laid at the feet of the disease. The instrumentation is fairly sparse leaving room for the lyrics to breathe. A very clever song. “You Were Gaslit For This” moves into a completely different musical area indeed. Fractured keyboard chords, almost dub like interventions, chittering and guttural noises, insistent hi-hats, abstract jazzy chords, almost John Zorn like in its’ construction and weirdness. Probably the stand out track on the album for me. Unique. “Madly, Softly, Hardly” is perhaps a perfect conflation of the themes of the overall album, an introspective feel, unconventional structures, not a song as such but more a narrative with a complimentary soundtrack the closing few minutes of environmental sounds and are marvellous. Matters conclude with a second reading of “Family Gatherings” which adds drum machine and extensive sax perorations from Wray.
Worth the twelve month wait? Assuredly. As I have said many times nobody else is making music like this. A combination of the familiar tropes of rock and pop intermingled with literary lyrical explorations, jazz elements, ambient sounds, and a degree of abstraction masking astute commentary on the state of the world today. There are more ideas in these 15 songs than most artists achieve in their careers. The album will be featured extensively over the next few weeks on my Aural Delights show on River Gibbs FM (Addendum March 2024 – with River Gibbs closing down the airplay for this album has been moved to the Different Noises Show on Eternal Fusion).
Different Noises 