FANG presents...
Artist.......: Flo Morrissey and Matthew E. White
Album........: Gentlewoman, Ruby Man
Label........: Glassnote
Genre........: Indie
Catnr........: GLS-0211-02
Source.......: CD (LP)
Rip.date.....: 2017-01-21
Str.date.....: 2017-01-13
Quality......: 251kbps/44.1kHz/Joint Stereo
Url..........: http://glassnotemusic.com
track title time
1. Look At What The Light Did Now 3:21
2. Thinkin Bout You 3:44
3. Looking For You 4:41
4. The Colour In Anything 2:58
5. Everybody Loves The Sunshine 4:47
6. Grease 4:21
7. Suzanne 4:41
8. Sunday Morning 3:37
9. Heaven Can Wait 3:49
10. Govindam 6:15
Runtime 42:14
Size 76.94
Release Notes:
Every record tells a story, a few journeys around the sun before the needle
locks into the centre and the side is over. A youngish English chanteuse flies
across the ocean to hang with a soft-spoken American auteur producer for two
weeks at a world-class studio in an unassuming central Virginia neighbourhood
across the gravel road from a field with some peaceful horses, she soaks up the
spring sunshine and the heavy southern air and in this wisecracking den of ace
musicians, teaches them a thing or two about how life is lived and music is
felt, then they lay down incredible covers both familiar and new, or unfamiliar
and old, with an easygoing style that captures the essence of the songs and a
bit of the wildness of what it means to be human. The producer has done his
homework, she lights fireworks on her first Fourth of July in the USA, the
session runs smoothly, lightning is bottled up, and she goes home. And you want
to travel with her and you want to travel blind. Alternate title, Flo Meets Matt
in AmericaûthereÆs a good start.
Flo met Matthew in person for the first time at a Lee Hazelwood tribute
performance at the Barbican in London in the fall of 2015, where they both sang
æSome Velvet MorningÆ, solidified their correspondence into a friendship and
discussed a desire to work together in the near future. That desire grew into
Gentlewoman, Ruby Man, in some ways a straightforward duets record, of a kind
that has fallen out of fashion, two separate entities meeting to record a
collection of great songs as a one-off, Marvin & Tammi-style. In other ways itÆs
a more unique animal, less typical back and forth duets, more subtle and
complimentary spotlight sharing. A record like Gentlewoman, Ruby Man might feel
inevitable, but itÆs a small miracle and a testament to the hard work and
natural chemistry of these two artists that they were able to pull it off, to
find each other and collaborate on a project of this kind across the ocean and
the unsteady 21st century musical landscape.
Both Morrissey and White seem destined to travel beyond genre, though they
explored more definable traditions in earlier releases. MorrisseyÆs Tomorrow
Will Be Beautiful (2015) is an honest and beatific affair, a refreshing outlier
in a resurging field of folk rock that had fallen into glossy commercialism, her
youthful debut looking back to the early aughts when Devendra Banhart and Joanna
Newsom recorded a slew of exceptional acoustic music. WhiteÆs stunning debut Big
Inner (2012) and its follow-up Fresh Blood (2015) are two southern soul
journeys, engaging and idiosyncratic statements crafted with his family of
Richmond collaborators.
Gentlewoman, Ruby Man is a little more difficult to categorize, closing with a
leftfield, but utterly sublime chant to Lord Krishna. The fact that it actually
works, signals what kind of a special universe this project exists in, a
universe familiar to anyone who has followed WhiteÆs label-cum-production house
Spacebomb.
WhiteÆs production takes cues from the touchstones of tape that have become
recording canon, he flourishes under a benevolent regime of preparation and
in-the-moment respect for the musicianÆs intuition. Feel, what I feel, when I
feel, what I feel, when IÆm feelinÆ, in the sunshine. What separates him from
the new class of rock producers with magpie access to all the coolest records
from all the decades, is his background in jazz and sophisticated understanding
of arrangement, in the tradition of a Quincy Jones with more than a few strands
of Brian WilsonÆs psychedelic DNA. Morrissey injected a dose of spiritual joy
into the process, placing an educated faith in WhiteÆs direction and providing
her own guiding light in the studio, ready with a studied opinion or an inspired
suggestion.
FloÆs ethereal voice, timeless to begin with, has matured and strengthened,
bringing a richness and magic core to everything it touches, and she really
sings the night out. WhiteÆs honeydrop vocal caresses offer a complimentary
texture or prowl in the lead. These are big songs tackled with zero insecurity
and ego, the band fiery and loose, taking the pressure and throwing away
conventionality. An album of covers could have slipped into mindless
eclecticism, commercial efforts at popularity or crate digging cred, but White
and Morrissey simply picked good, sometimes unexpected songs that they love and
feel connected to, from æGreaseÆ (1978), to a spine-tingling take on the title
track from James BlakeÆs æThe Colour In AnythingÆ (2016). Nine tracks that feed
the heart and move the body.
A ruby in the rough and a queen of gentle strength. Gentlewoman, Ruby Man.
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