Americana Alt.Country CD Reviews

The Wynntown Marshals
'The End Of The Golden Age'
(Blue Rose Records, 2015)
www.thewynntownmarshals.com

The bio:

Formed in Edinburgh in 2007, The Wynntown Marshals tip their hats to artists like Tom Petty, Neil Young, The Jayhawks and Wilco. Since its formation, the band has supported several world-renowned Americana acts including Marty Stuart, Richmond Fontaine, Jason & The Scorchers, Tift Merritt, John Murry, and, in 2008, toured the UK opening for the influential American singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet.

The Marshals released a self-titled, 6-track studio EP in February 2007 and followed this up with their full-length debut album 'Westerner' - produced by the band and Graham Deas (KT Tunstall, Super Furry Animals) in May 2010.

'Westerner' immediately received universally excellent reviews, including 9/10 from AmericanaUK ("as good as Americana gets") and received 5 stars in Maverick magazine ("quite simply stunning"). The album was also described by renowned Dutch magazine 'Heaven' as "one of the best European Americana records ever", with the celebrated US Americana website NoDepression declaring the album as a strong contender for their 'debut disc of 2010'.

Following the release of 'Westerner', the Marshals were invited to record a live BBC Radio 2 session with the legendary 'Whispering' Bob Harris MBE in July, performing three songs in the studio. Then, in the midst of a headline tour of The Netherlands, the band recorded a national radio session in central Amsterdam for Kink FM's legendary '2 Meter Sessies' at the request of renowned Dutch broadcaster Jan Douwe Kroeske.

The Marshals then released a live EP entitled 'Live At The Holly Tree': a 7-track blast featuring a cover of Neil Young's "Powderfinger", and then followed this up with a live session on 'Another Country with Ricky Ross' on BBC Radio Scotland in June 2011.

From 2011 through to the Winter of 2012, the band split their time between writing the follow-up to 'Westerner', album pre-production, and touring around the UK, The Netherlands and Germany - both as a full-band and as a duo (featuring lead vocalist Keith Benzie and guitarist Iain Sloan).

Their 2013 release 'The Long Haul' was recorded in three short months in the band’s rehearsal space above The Blind Poet, one of the city’s many venerable watering holes. The Marshals took a more DIY approach this time around, recording and mixing the album on a Tascam portastudio.

'The Long Haul' sees the band stretch out a little from the purer Americana sound of 'Westerner'. Organ and piano are more prominent this time round and there are pop hooks aplenty, sitting comfortably alongside more guitar-heavy tracks and subtler, more intimate moments. On two tracks, simple strings are employed to beautiful effect and there is also a sparkling cameo from Diane Christiansen of Chicago-based outfit Dolly Varden on the album closer “Change of Heart”.

The trademarks of the Marshals’ sound – honest and heartfelt lead vocals, the driving guitars, chiming Rickenbacker 12-string, and sweet pedal steel – are still present. The story songs of old are also in attendance; “Curtain Call” is a stripped-down hymn to a ruined Victorian illusionist, while the country-shuffle / sea-shanty of “The Submariner” tells the tale of a modern-day Captain Nemo.

However, line-up changes have brought a new dynamic and a more collaborative approach to songwriting and arrangements, while adding new flavours to the sound too. Listen closely and you’ll hear multi-layered backing vocals, mellotron, banjos and mandolins, echoes of 60s beat-pop, and simpler, more contemporary guitar lines.

Highlights include the hook-laden, radio-friendly “Canada” and the country-rock groove of “Low Country Comedown” - a track inspired by the band’s regular trips to the continent. “Whatever It Takes” shows the band’s more sensitive side, “The Submariner” rolls up-country then dives deep into the ocean. “Tide” is a windblown, Crazy Horse-esque workout, and the aforementioned “Change of Heart” brings the album to a close in epic style (think Neil Young or Tom Petty jamming with a string quartet).

“The Long Haul” speaks of so much more than the path the band have travelled to get to this point. It’s a treatise on journeys past, present and future, an ode to relationships, friendships and family and, ultimately, it’s a soundtrack to our endless search for identity and the road home.

'The band went into the studio again in the second half of 2014 with Andrew Taylor on the console and the same personnel plus new band member Richie Noble on keyboards, to start work on their new album 'The End Of The Golden Age'. With ten convincing tracks it is their most mature and organic, in short their best album to date.

The Wynntown Marshals:

Keith Benzie: Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica
Iain Sloan: Electric Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Backing Vocals
Murdoch MacLeod: Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Kenny McCabe: Drums, Backing Vocals
Richie Noble: Keyboards

The album:

'The End Of The Golden Age' is the third full-length studio album by Edinburgh-based band The Wynntown Marshals. It sees the band drawing on their Scottish roots to give their own uniquely personal take on the Americana genre - the cinematic lyrics on this Caledonian scrapbook tell tales of migrations from Hebridean islands and modern life in the capital city, the sights, smells and sounds of Aberdeenshire fairgrounds, and the rural landscapes of West Lothian.

The music is similarly widescreen in scope and the influences are diverse: the jangling, pile-driving guitars and rich harmonies owing as much to countrymen Teenage Fanclub as to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers; the use of effects, horns and synths evoking the music of peers such as Jim Bryson and The Weakerthans.

The central themes of the record are those of memories and nostalgia, and there are frequent references to times, people and places past. The lyrics speak of blossoming (and fragmenting) relationships and a yearning for days gone by and are sometimes tinged with regret, but there's also an undeniable, unshakable energy and a healthy undercurrent of optimism which tempers the downbeat subject matter of many of these songs.

'While much of the instrumentation on the album is undeniably 'classic' Americana - the jangle of the 12-string guitar, acoustic and electric guitars interweaving with Hammond organ, aching pedal steel, and plaintive piano - not everything on 'The End Of The Golden Age' fits so comfortably into the genre. Hushed horns, synths, and stacked harmonies add to the often expansive soundscapes on offer here, but the Marshals continue to do what they love most, and do best: lyrically strong guitar-driven pop and rock with plenty of hooks.

Featuring original album art by Tom Gauld (best known for his illustrations for The Guardian and New Yorker Magazine), the cover imagery perfectly encapsulates the organic, melancholic, old-meets-new feel of much of the record.