Billy Mack Collector are an experimental folk band from Pennsylvania who have come straight off the back of a 3 month US tour into promoting their third album 'Stingrays'. The first line of their myspace sets out their mission statement perfectly.
"Billy Mack Collector come from the mountains of pennsylvania to play in your living room."
Hopefully soon it won't just be living rooms.
They sing songs about 'being awkward' which are put together in the exact sort of way songs about being awkward should be put together - slightly awkwardly. Their music is described by the band as 'operatic cabaret folk trash campfire songs', and this is as accurate a description as you could wish for in under 7 words. Time signatures change frequently and the psychedelic campfire vocals never really reach levels above a murmur, but the whole effect of this is easily satisying enough to warrant listening.
The instrumentation is campfire if i ever did hear it - the whole discography of Billy Mack Collector features acoustic bass, flute, marimba, bassoon, clarinet and harmonica, as well as standard acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies. Acoustics are heavy and bassy and vocals are often light and distant. They are passively catchy in a light, casual Clap Your Hands Say Yeah kind of way, but they don't employ oversized, attention grabbing riffs to keep you interested. Billy Mack Collector pretend to be nothing but what they are.
The songs never quite reach stomping Dodo style folk rock riffs although they often sound like they are about to. In a less catchy but more discordial style the acoustics sound like British folk band Tunng, minus the electronics. Self-quoted influences (along with Mindless Self Indulgence, Frank Zappa and The Magnetic Fields) include 'Beirut' and 'Why?', and the lumberous marching melodies of Beirut combined with the murky harmonies of parts of 'Why?' come close to explaining just where Billy Mack Collector got that unique gyspy folk sound from.
Stingrays is a flat stringed freak folk album that fits right in next to Devendra Banhart for days when standard isn't catching your interest. Weighing in at just 31 minutes for 15 tracks, it is as easily accessible as the song titles suggest.
Billy Mack Collector - Genderless
Billy Mack Collector - Flat Ol' Florida
Billy Mack Collector - Fix That, Get Fat.
You can also download Billy Mack's ten song solo album through the myspace.
No comments:
Post a Comment