CD Review: The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers

Amidst all the genre definitions of music, there is a constant striving in the music industry to pigeon-hole bands and their musical styles. One that I have become increasingly attracted to is that that has been labeled variously alt.country, Americana, or even alternative rock. Maybe I have confused a few of them together where in reality they should be considered more distinctly, but what I am talking about is music by the likes of Wilco, Golden Smog and more recently Okkervil River and The Felice Brothers amongst others. What seems to define this music for me is that real instruments are used, influences can be detected from Bob Dylan and The Band to Tom Petty, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and the blues. The music is earthy, rootsey and heart-felt.

 

The Felice Brothers have two albums out. This one called ‘The Felice Brothers’ and is their second, apart from one song on their first (which I love) I have not heard that one. Based on my enjoyment of their second, I will certainly try to dig out their first. This can be a challenge in South Africa as shops here are pretty dismal, and ordering online has become more and more risky whereby shipments are frequently lost.

 

‘The Felice Brothers’ is in fact a very varied album. This was a refreshing discovery for me as I had the expectation that they would put out an album full of very similar sounding songs. This is not the case. Sure the vocalists have pretty distinctive sounds, and there is a general trend of a basic format carrying each song. But the pace changes a lot from song to song, the vocalists seems to change too (there are no liner notes so I don’t know this for sure, but if it is the same guy singing every song, he sure can change a lot), and they bring in some pretty different instrumentation from song to song too. Again without liner notes I can’t be 100% clear on who is playing what on each specific song, but on some the is the presence of brass, others include the accordion, while others can be pretty stripped down too. But my point here is that The Felice Brothers have managed to keep the entire album refreshingly different.

 

The anecdotal nature of the songs also draw the listener in from song to song. In each, one is also drawn into considering the protagonist. This multi-layered song writing requires a lot of talent and skill, and this band is certainly not short on that. What this results in is that you can listen to this album time after time and it reveals itself to you a little more each time.

 

The band is not afraid to start the album off on a pretty subdued note with the exquisite ‘Little Ann’, subsequently taking the listener on a roller-coaster ride with many changes of pace. One of the main ingredients that I look for in a great album is that of the fun element, and you can hear that this band really enjoys what they do. This is highlighted in some of the more bar-room brawl type songs that they deliver which bring a smile to my face every time. These songs come across as raunchy and rollicking, but such is the nature of this album, that you can expect a complete change of pace at any time.

 

If you’re looking for some real music by a band that loves what they do – I strongly recommend this one.