Moriarty – Gee Whiz But This Is A Lonesome Town

The snowball, or sunbeam, effect of folk music has risen into the popular consciousness thanks to musicians such as Devendra Banhart, Sufjan and Jose. Since they began lending their songs to major advertising campaigns, their presence as a form of resistance to the modern way of life; its joyless, motionless drag (the eternal pessimist I am), has been superseded by money making adverts whose message is “if you have this mobile phone you can live as care free and as easy as these guys.” Has the origin of folk music been ambushed and usurped by new folks embracing of commercialism? Who knows. Selling out aside, it seems the popularity of folk keeps on rolling. Where will it roll next?

From the backwaters of Americana folk come Moriarity. Part bluegrass, part olde folk and part country, their debut Gee Whizz… reminds us what is good about indigenous American folk. Songs like the opener ‘Jimmy’ are neat enough pop orientated folk songs, bare and simple. But it’s later in the album where the real gems lie. ‘Loneliness’ is slightly irritating in its effort to be ye olde twee, and ‘Private Lily’ is making efforts to be anti-folk without any real impact. But the bluesy Motel has a fiery bareness, with a nice groove. That said, there’s something about lead singer Rosemary Stanley’s voice that can grate at times – like Grace Slick with throat infection. On her quieter moments she treats a song well. The mysteriously titled ‘(…)’ is perhaps the albums best. Downbeat jazz bass romance, this is where the album starts to pay off; tight musicianship and effortless songwriting. Even if Rosemary does let her nasal voice get about a bit, there is a hint of Tim Buckley to its tones. A compliment to any musician. We can’t get down with the American folk tradition without a barn dance y’all, so ‘Whitemans Ballad’ is another pay off -  a barn worthy hootenanny.

Despite a mostly generic folk leaning there are moments on this record where the band shine. Unfortunately though, they’re never going to set your heart ablaze.

A comfortably nice folk album.
63%

Moriarty on MySpace