Vermont’s folk trio Low Lily are back to their old tricks again. Creating an engaging new album, Angels In The Wreckage, must have taken much effort and inspiration. Their hard work pays off in spades as this disc carries listener along with its waves of motions, engaging sounds, and intriguing lyrics.
Opening track “Round Of Blues” finds vocalist Liz Simmons using her fetching high register to ride the rails of supple melody and a jaunty rhythm that flexibly move with her. Electric and acoustic guitars support one another like a pair of gloves warming the hands. Low Lily’s fiddler Natalie Padilla makes her deliciously sweet melody dart in and around sweet mando and the lilting groove which envelops all.
“Where We Belong” prances rhythmically like confident barn dancer. Putting the three together on the chorus and letting them takes turns on the verses keeps this song spinning with a variety of sounds. Padilla’s fiddle line leaps around with with pretty sweeps and its glide contrasts perfectly with Flynn Cohen’s acoustic guitar grit.
Tender brushes of fiddle move “Captivate Me” along like the gentle roll of tumbleweed in a breeze. Over this soothing motion comes Natalie Padilla’s quietly assertive vocal, pushing just a small lift of words at a time. Engaging, the song gathers more pretty width as the vocals widen on the chorus. Mando and banjo notes percolate beside the main action, like winds buffeting the sails of a ship. It feels large, in motion, and very purposeful.
Flynn Cohen takes the lead vocal on “Up On A Rock,” a chirpy, melodic piece, complete with feisty guitar and gritty banjo as well as a swirling fiddle line. The fiddle action and string bits augment well Cohen’s serious message about the dire circumstances of working in mines. His vocal sustains make one feel the trepidation of sinking down into the job as he moves through his meters with plucky resolve.
Former band member Lissa Schneckenburger contributes her songs for the band to use. Vocalist Liz Simmons does justice to Schneckenburger’s sorrowful contemplation of rejection and abandonment on “Aren’t I Good Enough.” Simmons lifts the song into a sweet spiral of sound on its catchy chorus and on the uptempo assist from running instrumentation.
“One Wild World” plays like a world weary contemplation rather than something wild. Harmony vocals and a see-sawing fiddle melody carry us gently into the song. The drawling vocals contrast well with the sparkling, brevity of guitar and banjo. However, within the down tempo spiral of sound, trumpeter Drake LeBlanc makes his horn rise up and carry the other players along with him. This also makes the listener feel more of the sorrowful observations in the lyrics.
A continuous trumpet line solos, leading us into the folk-gospel anthem “What’ll You Do,” a three part harmony asserting with beautiful, spiritual oomph over Stefan Amidon’s pulpy, tribal drum work. With hand claps also powering this, the three vocalists call on judges, juries, senators and presidents to end racial injustice. A strong display of vocal power in a sparse settings, it makes for a good half-way point in this album.
A bouncy Flynn Cohen penned piece, “Keep The Pachysandra Flying,” is a delightful instrumental with enough double bass panache from Dirk Powell to keep this two stepper in motion. Pepper it with Cohen’s shiny candy mando notes and Padilla’s swift jaunt fiddle and we have another winsome barn dance tune.
Flynn must have been dying to sing during the previous number. He makes up for it with a very strong vocal performance on “Long Distance Love,” a Rushad Eggleston penned number. Padilla’s brisk bowing, Cohen’s thick acoustic guitar strum and Dirk Powell’s thick double bass run all come together in one thick cord of joyful motion. Together, the hop, skip, and jump in fun, tricky ways. The three part vocal harmonies swirl around that wedge of instrumentation and thicken everything sweetly.
A dark, forlorn piano melody marks the down tempo weeper “Lonely.” Liz Simmons’ pretty voice renders more vulnerability here as tufts of fiddle and mando keep it rustic, moody, widening the message. Everyone in this combo makes the listener feel what it is all about. Simmons’ sustains her vocal notes here and there, pulling on more emotional muscle, and serving it to the listener, a thoughtful offering.
Catchy as heck, another Schneckenburger tune, “Could We Ever Be Great,” carries the listener through its pleasant jaunty thrusts, especially during its snappy chorus. Flynn Cohen’s handsome, sincere vocal application is another valuable tool as this song challenges the Make America Great Again philosophy while simultaneously sewing doubt by reminding of its damage.
“Love And Loss” makes for another fine Simmons vocal vehicle. Her lofty vocal feels lifted, lush, full, filling her song with much tender feeling, laying out her wide brush of voice. Her vocal contrasts perfectly with accented guitars and banjo, highlighting the brightness of both. It hits the listener’s tender spot while impressing the ear with its instrumental design.
When Flynn gets going on his guitar, he really gets going. His second instrumental, “Bastard Plantagenet Blues,” captures the feeling of solitude in his all by his own self piece. Picking accented notes that ring with authentic tone and feeling, Flynn maintains a peaceful vibe. His notes fall like a soft rain, especially when he uses his technique of suddenly dropping an occasional second note quickly after the first.
If you’re not convinced by now of this groups clever inventiveness, they arrange Jethro Tull’s “Wond’ring Again” for their closing track. Low Lily captures the essence of what Tull was pulling from British folk idioms. They render it well, with Dirk Powell’s expansive mellotron, Natalie Padilla’s rangy fiddle line, and acoustic guitar grist from Flynn Cohen and Liz Simmons. Cohen manages to coax a lot of feeling out of the Ian Anderson lyrics, bringing sincerity and gravity to Anderson’s vision of a land rendered barren by modern machinations.
Low Lily accomplishes much on their new Angels In The Wreckage album. They further their own credentials as extremely talented folk musicians and rangy singers. More importantly, they develop even further credentials as songwriters and arrangers. The images and story songs they create are hugely visual and their delivery serves up an array of feelings, from tenderness to joyful abandon. Produced by Dirk Powell at EvenFall Studio in New Hampshire and in The Cypress House, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, Angels In The Wreckage functions on a high level of excellence.
