ARTiST: Blanche
TiTLE: Little Amber Bottles
LABEL: Loose
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 50:53 min
SiZE: 57,1 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: May-04-2007
RELEASE DATE: May-21-2007
WEBSiTE: www.blanchemusic.com
Track List:
01. I'm Sure Of It 03:53
02. A Year From Now 04:22
03. What This Town Needs 04:01
04. No Matter Where You Go 04:02
05. Last Year's Leaves 03:21
06. Child Of The Moon 03:47
07. Little Amber Bottles 04:33
08. The World I Used To Be Afraid Of 03:49
09. Oh Death, Where Is Thy Sting? 03:01
10. I Can't Sit Down 02:54
11. Exordium 01:09
12. The World's Largest Crucifix 06:23
13. Scar Beneath The Skin 05:38
Release Notes:
Dripping with creepy invention, it's both rollicking
and tender, wild of fringe but fragile of heart...an
agitated howl of a record, both justifying the hype
and whittling a singular identity."
Uncut on If We Can't Trust The Doctors (2004)
"If our first album was about life throwing you in a
ditch and thinking about why these horribly sad
things happen, I guess this one is about pulling
yourself out of that ditch", says Dan John Miller of
Blanche's second LP Little Amber Bottles.
With glints of grit and strychnine-laced grandeur
from the birthplace of Motown, Blanche weave eerily
beautiful tales, inspired by Depression-era blues,
early country music, and stripped-down rock 'n'
roll, all delivered in the style of an electrified
gospel quintet.
Recorded by Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Will Oldham) in
his Nashville bungalow and by David Feeny in
Detroit, Little Amber Bottles is the follow-up to
2004's debut If We Can't Trust The Doctors: a
spooked set of tales of the unexpected that dealt
with faith, no hope and very little charity.
Featuring an eerie cover of The Gun Club's
punk-blues classic Jack On Fire, it was an album
that led critics to draw comparisons with Nick
Cave's black-hearted romance and the back porch
charm of The Carter Family. Blanche proved they
could deliver the goods live when they toured the UK
with The White Stripes, Calexico and played the
Leeds, Reading, Rock de Seine, Pukkelpopp, Lowlands
and Vital festivals in 2004. They then formed the
spine of Loretta Lynn's backing band on her
Grammy-winning Van Lear Rose album.
At the centre of all this haunting yet inviting
music are the married couple Tracee Mae and Dan John
Miller. You may recognise Dan from the Johnny Cash
biopic Walk The Line, in which he played Luther
Perkins (naturally, Tracee played Luther's wife). He
and Tracee also sing on Charlie Louvin's recent
self-titled comeback album.
Little Amber Bottles is an album of redemption, and
while it finds Blanche in an angrier mood, that tone
is alternately aggressive and dreamy. The personal
songwriting is more developed, with textured
arrangements often soaked in reverb, resulting in a
sophisticated, soulful simple sound.
Tracee's starkly poignant vocals and evocative
lyrics drive the title and track, while her vocal
interplay with Dan is highlighted on several
heartwarming (and sometimes heartbreaking) duets.
They are deftly framed by the group of top-notch
musicians who complete the Blanche family: pedal
steel wizard Feeny, Little Jack Lawrence (of The
Greenhornes and The Raconteurs ) on banjo and
mandolin, and primal drummer Lisa Jaybird Jannon.
Little Jack handles lead vocals on his self-penned
number O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?, while special
guest Isobel Campbell plays cello on No Matter Where
You Go.