- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
Artist: Southeast Engine
Album: Canary
Label: Misra
Playtime: 44:08 min
Genre: Folk
URL: http://www.southeastengine.com/
Rip date: 2011-03-30
Street date: 2011-03-29
Size: 53.99 MB
Type: Normal
Quality: 164 kbps / 4410kHz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
Southeast EngineÆs folk-rock aesthetic emerged from the Ohio underground in
1999. The Wrens discovered SEE in 2006 and led Misra Records to the band
later that year. The esteemed A Wheel Within a Wheel was released in 2007 and
followed with 2009Æs From the Forest to the Sea. The latter received an 84 û
Universal Acclaim û from rating aggregator Metacritic. While preserving the
signature sound that garnered Forest/Sea critical acclaim, Canary marks a
dramatic step forward in regards to both songwriting and arrangement. In 2010
the band toured extensively with Deerhoof and is preparing an elaborate 2011
tour schedule as well.
SEE has been playing for over a decade. In 1999, Adam Remnant (lead vocals,
guitar) and Leo DeLuca (drums) formed what would later become Southeast
Engine. Both attended the same schools in Dayton, OH and grew up in The Gem
City during its musical heyday of the 1990s. Both the ethos and music of
bands like Guided By Voices, Brainiac, The Breeders, and Swearing at
Motorists made long-standing impressions upon the two young musicians.
Shortly after forming SEE, Remnant and DeLuca moved to Athens, OH, where they
immersed themselves in the Appalachian old-time & folk music of the area.
From there, Southeast EngineÆs sound û a unique hybrid of DaytonÆs
underground and AthensÆ longstanding folk traditions, was born. In 2007,
younger brother Jesse Remnant joined on bass, bringing with him a new
component to the band û familial vocal harmonies. The multi-talented Billy
Matheny started playing piano, organ, banjo, and guitar in 2008. This
four-piece is Southeast EngineÆs current and longest standing lineup.
On Canary by Timothy Bracy of The Mendoza Line & Elizabeth Nelson Bracy of
NPR:
ôItÆs 1933 and the debt collectorÆs after meö
Southeast EngineÆs brilliant new album ôCanaryö tells the stories of a single
Appalachian family holding on through the violent deprivations of the Great
Depression. While it just as easily could have been recorded six decades ago,
it is replete with ghostly resonances to our contemporary lives.
Principal songwriter Adam Remnant, whoÆs spent many years in the Appalachian
town of Athens, Ohio puts it this way: ôIn the early part of the 20th century
Southeast Ohio was full of little booming mine towns that revolved around the
economy of the mines. In general, Appalachia was being exploited for its
natural resources for quite a long time, and by the time of the Depression
these systems were no longer sustainable.ö
Great records transport us immediately to a different place and time. When we
hear ôExile On Main Street,ö we immediately become denizens of the glorious,
desiccated South of France that incubated its genius. To listen to ôCanaryö
is to be a part of the Appalachian experience, both past and present. The
remarkable authenticity of writing and execution leaves no doubt as to the
source of its profound emotional core. Like The Band, whose retelling of the
traumas of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras helped shine a mirror on the
violence of the Vietnam era, Southeast Engine has created a record that
elucidates our present by referencing our past.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
The detailed narratives and character studies of ôCanaryö are replete with
enormous sadness, humor and acuity. Southeast Engine has transcended the
trite conventions of protest music, alluding instead to something deeper,
more personal and ultimately more affecting. The injustices experienced by
the economically and politically disenfranchised in our society, is a long
story, and one seemingly without end. As with later manufacturing hubs like
Rochester and Detroit, the end of industry promises slow death for the
community itself. In kind, the characters rendered on ôCanaryö are
functionally expendable by the very same society they once embodied and
enriched.
Despite it all, ôCanaryö is a hopeful album û filled with great barrelhouse
melodies and brief musical nods to the 1930s era it embodies and describes, a
touch reminiscent of Willie NelsonÆs brilliant ôRed Headed Stranger.ö As
anyone who has ever experienced real, insoluble poverty knows, there is no
glamour. There is only suffering, striving and the desperate hope that hard
work will lead to a better life.
No record in recent memory has better articulated these themes than Southeast
EngineÆs ôCanary.ö
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. Curses of Canaanville ( 5:08)
02. Cold Front Blues ( 3:39)
03. 1933 (Great Depression) ( 4:28)
04. At Least We Have Each Other ( 2:32)
05. Adeline of the Appalachian Mountains ( 5:09)
06. Red Lake Shore ( 4:50)
07. Mountain Child ( 4:33)
08. New Growth ( 4:48)
09. Summer and Her Ferris Wheel ( 2:59)
10. Ruthie ( 4:38)
11. Sourwood Mountain ( 1:24)
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