It is fair to say that roots music, in all its forms, is undergoing a bit of a revival. The word “bit” being one helluva understatement. Whether it is the sound of folk music being incorporated into pop and indie, alt-country staking a claim in a corner of the rock and roll world or the ubiquitous and mostly misunderstood “Americana” sound becoming a mainstream force, it seems that everywhere you look there is someone in a plaid shirt, a baseball cap weilding a battered acoustic guitar! On both sides of the Atlantic…and beyond.
But for every hundred bands or artists happy to follow where others lead in this crowded field, there is one that is actually doing something interesting. Autumn Hollow is just such a band.
And while Say No More might not be the sound of a band breaking the mould musically, it is the sound of one that just seems to write better songs than most, – more interesting and infectious, more deft and sonically elegant – and that is a much more appealing quality.
Take the ebb and flow of “Wooden Wire,” the way it wanders between gnashing guitars and beguiling lulls, the sound of instruments often used to merely enclose and underline existing musical atmospheres that pool at the song’s centre. “If This Keeps Up” is the perfect blend of old-time sonics and bluesy, alt-country, and “Fields ‘N’ Town” is drawn from spacious yet big guitar lines, deftly coloured in with gentle and understated sonic hues.
As I said at the beginning, terms like “Americana”, not to mention “roots” and “alt-country”, are often misunderstood, but the next time someone asks you what sound those labels refer to, playing them Say No More is a good place to start.
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