Artist: William Elliot Whitmore
Title: Animals In The Dark
Label: Anti
Genre: Folk
Bitrate: 171kbit av.
Time: 00:37:05
Size: 48.58 mb
Rip Date: 2009-01-15
Str Date: 2009-02-16
1. Mutiny 4:02
2. Who Stole The Soul 3:26
3. Johnny Law 4:29
4. Old Devils 3:38
5. Hell Or High Water 2:30
6. There's Hope For You 5:42
7. Hard Times 3:15
8. Lifetime Underground 3:19
9. Let The Rain Come In 4:07
10. A Good Day To Die 2:37
Release Notes:
ANTI- Records Debut Marks a More Expansive Sound and Worldview
for Iowa's Son of the Soil
From the first lines of "Mutiny," the opening track on William
Elliott Whitmore's ANTI- Records debut Animals In The Dark,
one can see that this is decidedly not simply a continuation
of his Southern trilogy that spanned his last three releases.
Rather than a reflection of life and loss and the world
surrounding his Iowa horse farm on the banks of the
Mississippi, "Mutiny" finds Whitmore's focus turned outward,
to the state of the country and the missteps of the
government. Conveyed with ire and humor, Whitmore sings over a
martial beat:
Well it's a goddamn shame what's going down
How we got to this I do not know
There's a sick sick wind that is blowing æround
And the captain's got to go
Yet Animals In The Dark, is by no means a political record. It
has more in common with the preacher blues of Reverend Gary
Davis or the romantic populism of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
than it does a Billy Bragg record. What Animals In The Dark
highlights is the maturation and growth of an exemplary
artist. On the release, Whitmore showcases his classic
songwriting and mastery of the acoustic guitar and banjo, but
adds elements such as strings, an organ and a pedal steel,
putting the songs into full arrangements and a band context
for the first time. The results are a more expansive,
cultivated sound, without losing any of the palpable soul that
has garnered the 30 year old such critical acclaim.