Wooden Wand - Blood Oaths Of The New Blues
Label.........................: Fire
Genre.........................: Indie
StoreDate.....................: Jan-08-2013
Source........................: CDDA
Grabber.......................: Exact Audio Copy (Secure Mode)
Encoding Scheme...............: Lame 3.98.4 V0 VBR Joint-Stereo
Size..........................: 67.57 MB
Total Playing Time............: 40:45
Release Notes:
Blood Oaths Of The New Blues is the Sunday morning 'wake and bake'
record to last year's critically acclaimed Briarwood LP's Saturday night
revelry. With his once-every-five-years proper rock and roll record out
of his system, James Jackson Toth - AKA Wooden Wand - retreated back to
Alabama to record this spooky, heady follow-up, an album that demands
close attention. This is music for quiet reflection and shares a
worldview more in line with noise and doom metal artists than it does
summer of love casualties and beach burnouts.
Every Wooden Wand album trounces expectations, and Blood Oaths Of The
New Blues, thankfully, doesn't break that trend.
Many of the musicians on Briarwood return here, making this the only
solo Wooden Wand album to feature the same consecutive players and the
first Wooden Wand solo album to be recorded in the same consecutive
studio (Ol Elegante in Homewood, AL) as the previous album, somewhere
along the line Wooden Wand became a BAND. David Hickox, Janet Elizabeth
Simpson, Jody Nelson, Brad Davis and Les Nuby III make up the band, and
it's a testament to their versatility to note that this same group who
pulled off slow-burn rock epics like "Motel Stationery" and Stones-y,
soulful jams like the cover of Jim Ford's classic "Big Mouth USA" last
time around could so artfully and effortlessly create a follow-up that
does not contain a single guitar solo, snare hit, or country
affectation. Harmonium, organ and disembodied vocals are the order of
the day here, with back-masking and subliminal messages added to enhance
the trip. (We really didn't want to spoil that last part for you, but we
at Fire Records have been advised by our legal staff to offer full
disclosure on such matters to avoid any litigation resulting from
misadventure. Sorry, James!).
Wooden Wand - 'Supermoon' from fire records on Vimeo.
Like spiritual cousins Nico's Desertshore, Peter Hammil's A Black Box,
or Dino Valente's s/t solo album, Blood Oaths Of The New Blues
represents a break with the past with an eye on an uncertain future, and
is the boldest, most adventurous and most intensely personal album of
Toth's long career. The new focus on texture and sonic space does not,
however, come at the expense of Toth's inimitable lyrical style. For
proof, see the "alt couple" travelogue of "Outsider Blues," the menacing
firsthand account of the real-life Doherty Gang's crime spree in
"Southern Colorado Song," or the suicidal yearnings of the protagonist
seeking to drown himself in "Supermoon (The Sounding Line)."
Elsewhere, Toth evokes the weary spirits of state-executed men and women
in "Dungeon Of Irons," pays tribute to one of his musical heroes in
"Jhonn Balance," and even glimpses, for a moment, a sort of hope, via
the sweet love song "No Debts." Warring factions on each side of Wooden
Wand's generally eclectic fanbase can finally call a cease fire - this
is the first Wooden Wand album that should equally satisfy both the fans
of Toth's acerbic rambler narratives as well as older fans who miss
losing themselves in the fried, psychedelic atmospheres of albums like
Buck Dharma and Harem Of the Sundrum & The Witness Figg. The album also
features the best vocal performances of Toth's career.
Toth has said that he set out to make an album like the kind he would
listen to on headphones when he was 14 and discovering hallucinogens. "I
still have trouble listening to King Diamond's Abigail LP," he says.
When was the last time an album spooked you?
Tracklisting
01. No Bed For Beatle Wand/Days This Long 11:48
02. Outsider Blues 6:53
03. Dome Community People (Are Good People) 1:23
04. Dungeon Of Irons 2:37
05. Supermoon (The Sounding Line) 3:52
06. Southern Colorado Song 6:11
07. Jhonn Balance 6:04
08. No Debts 1:57
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