Spellbinding
Formed in 2004 from the ashes of the acclaimed nineties act 'The Telstar Ponies' Glasgow four-piece 'The Porch Song Anthology' finally unleash their debut album 'Spell Of The Trembling Earth' on September 11th. An album of potent country, folk and Americana it's a bold statement of intent from the Scots-Irish quartet who are clearly scholars of the genres finest exponents (Cash, Carter, Fairport Convention et al.).
Proceedings get off to a flying start with the doom laden 'Hang Me Good', a good old fashioned song about murder. Smothered with heavy reverb and the kind of twangy guitars that made Sun era Johnny Cash sound so distinctive it also recalls the twisted blues rock of those other fine Glaswegians 'Sons and Daughters'. 'Hang Me Good' stands in stark contrast to the remainder of the album unfortunately but this isn't necessarily a bad thing for once.
The lively 'The Blood In The Breeze' provides chiming banjos and minimal additional backing for a magnificent vocal performance from Rachel Devine who puts in a stellar performance throughout. Her voice is at once distinctive, powerful and clear enabling the band's weaker compositions (of which there are only a few) to rise above the ordinary. The early momentum dissipates somewhat by the time 'Hard As It Seems' comes along, trudging along wearily and almost threatening to collapse at any moment it's fair to say that this is the album's achilles heel. The traditional folk of 'I Belong To Jesus' skips along merrily after it and although it might come across as being a little bit too happy-clappy for some it's by no means a "...bible belt call to arms".
Next up is 'Bright Green Field' one of the album's undoubted standout moments. It's a lush homage to early Fairport Convention, dreamy acoustic guitars melding with swathes of pedal steel to create something rather special. 'Carnival Hill' ("a folk fable or southern roughshod ride..." according to the band) is another diamond in the rough and evidence that the band are more than capable of roughing up their polished alt-country template from time to time.
The downtempo 'A Tale of Love and a Tale of Late' is a rather disappointing affair by comparison. A moody piano ballad, it veers perilously close to the middle of the road and is only steered back on course by a quavering vocal performance by Rachel Devine. The harmonica led 'Rest and Be Thankful' gets the album back on track though and recalls prime Ryan Adams (circa 'Heartbreaker') in its heart on sleeve intensity (the backing vocals are particularly good on this track). The sparse folk of 'Ask The Dust' closes the album in a suitably elegant fashion, mournful acoustic guitars combining with surprisingly understated vocals and the odd touch of harmonica to form a rather lovely whole.
Melodically rich and surprisingly varied 'Spell of the Trembling Earth' is a fine album deserving of a wider audience. Hopefully the band will cement their position as promising new alt-country contenders with a short tour planned for later next month (September).