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Review: 'Accidentals, The'
'Live'   

-  Label: 'The accidentals music/Sony Masterworks'
-  Genre: 'Alt/Country' -  Release Date: '1.5.19.'

Our Rating:
The Accidentals are a modern multi-instrumentalist power trio from Michigan who all have orchestral backgrounds. This is the bands fourth album and the first live one and unlike last years Odyssey this features no special guests just the trio of Katie Larson, Savannah Buist and Michael Dause, it was recorded in Goshen Indiana in what looks on the cover to be a barn or some sort.

The album opens with Sleeve a bass led heartfelt love song that really sounds more funky than country. They then play a cover of Sarah Jaffe's Clementine that has some cool cello helping to accentuate the story in the lyrics.

Tooth & Nail reminds me a bit of Hurray For The Riff Raff and has some really nice fiddle on it as well as the nice harmonies of Katie Larson and Savannah Buist.

Thankfully Shoulders Of Giants has nothing to do with Oasis and has more of the feel of Rasputina in the cello sound but with more of an almost Indigo Girls or Letters To Cleo feel to the vocals as the story at the heart of the song unfolds this will grow on you on repeated listening.

They then take The Pixies Where Is My Mind somewhere totally different to the original and it's all the better for the way it strips it back and makes it a rather gentle and beautiful song, sung like this is it has very little of The Pixies paranoia, a very interesting interpretation.

Trouble has some almost 4 Non Blondes style vocals set against the cello and strummed acoustic guitar and sparse percussion and in keeping with the rest of this live album you don't hear an audience at any point. The trouble at the center of this song is as much angst for the current state of our world with some personal trouble keeping them up at night.

Gold Lion is the third and final cover on the album and has a less angular feel to the Yeah Yeah Yeah's original making it fell a bit woozy in places and I'm sure many people familiar with the original will only spot this is a cover a good way into the song but before the very cool fiddle solo.

Black Diamonds is slow and rather graceful with some rather wistful lyrics that remind me of Clem Snide this is a very nice and reflective song.

Lady of The Lake is another re-telling of that classic old chestnut in The Accidentals nice laid back style with the cello and fiddle really bringing meaning to the action in the lyrics one of the songs that I will need to come back too a good few times and the first time on the album I can hear any audience noise in the form of a yelp mid-song although that might be the Drummer.

The album closes with Bucket Seat that takes an Hi Life style acoustic guitar part and builds something altogether rather compelling from it as a hard scrabble tale of living on nothing and finding a way to a better life unfolds with the gently carousing rhythmic backbeat and this song unfolds like they have updated one of Two Nice Girls story songs a very cool song to end the album and set with.

Find out more at www.theaccidentalsmusic.com

  author: simonovitch

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