Albums

Album Review: O’ Death

[Album: Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin]
[Label: City Slang Records]

This is a troupe of musicians that certainly don’t hold back. ‘Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin’ is the third album from O’Death, and is a fiery display of the punk-folk, jazz and bluegrass sound concocted by five blokes from New York. Accompanied by banjo, fiddle, ukulele, piano, trombone and the usual bass, drums and buckets, it rushes from song to song at a reckless pace, going from rebellious jubilation to furious, angsty imagery.

From their formation in 2003 O’Death rapidly began gathering fans through energetic live performances around the city, and demand was building for a tangible format of their songs. They put together a raw ten-track CD-R to sell to audiences. Whilst working on material for their second album in 2006, the band played over one hundred shows, concreting the importance of the live performance for their music. Like the first, the second LP, ‘Head Home’ was self-released, but was later re-released after being signed to record labels both sides of the pond.

This third album has a chaotic, buzzing, prickling quality that hints at the sparky fervour of their infamous live performances. This is probably where the band gets to show off the music at its best, as it’s not really the sort of album to be appreciated alone. In a live context in a packed venue I can imagine the songs of this album going down a treat, creating a sort of barn-dance atmosphere of camaraderie, even if we’re not quite sure of the cause.

One thing they can’t be criticised for is their inventiveness on this album, befuddling traditionalist folk fans around the world. Songs begin conventionally enough, but soon descend into a heady fusion of DIY punky junkyard blues, with a cacophony of instrumentation sending the fiddles into a furied, fast-tempo frenzy.

I’m going to be candid about Greg Jamie’s vocals here, in that if I were just listening to the first track, they’d put me off listening to the rest of the album as they have a tendency to sound irritatingly strangled. The saving grace is that tracks further into the album display different sides of Jamie’s vocal abilities, so that after the initial unpleasant ambush they become less offensive. Still, even slower songs like ‘Grey Sun’ and ‘Angeline’ retain an unwelcome abrasive quality.

While I’m quite glad to have reached the end of the fourteen songs on the album, I imagine those who relish the zanier, serrated edge of the music spectrum will welcome this to their collections with great gusto.

For Fans Of: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Castanets, Langhorne Slim

Band Link:
O’ Death

Shop:
Amazon UK | Amazon US

Bookmark to:

Previous & Next