Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That…
Brief looks at new releases, ‘cause ain’t nobody got time in this heat for more!
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Beoga
Before We Change Our Mind
New Folk Records www.beogamusic.com/
[amazon asin=B01FTLRC6O&template=ink19-top] Beoga (Lively in Irish Gaelic) are steeped in the musical traditions of Ireland. The music they play sounds fresh while also tapping into the timeless traditions of the Emerald Isle. Most of the tunes on Before We Change Our Mind are fiddle and accordion-driven instrumentals. Fiddler Niamh Dunne sings on four songs. She is equally at home on the rousing traditional tune, “The Bonny Ship”, “The Diamond” and the contemporary number “Like a Dime”. With a band like Beoga at work, I’m glad to say the traditions may mutate a bit, but they’re not going to fade away.
Bob Pomeroy
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Hite
Light of a Strange Day
Six Degrees Records www.heyhite.com
[amazon asin=B01N6B72VJ&template=ink19-top]Julia Esterlin is a multi-instrumentalist and producer who made her reputation building loop-based compositions. Her last release was a collaboration with Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Toure. As Hite, Esterlin creates quiet, chamber pop meditations that sublimate her experimenter past. I would not be surprised if I tuned into the revived Twin Peaks and saw Hite as the house band at Agent Dale Cooper’s favorite martini bar.
Bob Pomeroy
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Dawn Oberg
Nothing Rhymes with Orange
Blossom Theory Records //store.cdbaby.com/Artist/DawnOberg
[amazon asin=B073T9PBD8&template=ink19-top]Dawn Oberg serves up coffee house quips for the politically frustrated with a 3-song EP entitled Nothing Rhymes with Orange – the color orange now notoriously bound to the spray-on skin tone of America’s 45th President. The music is rather pop-folk bland, even if well produced, and the lyrics sometimes overplays its hand on the metaphors (e.g.: skip the “four horsemen” imagery and just tell us it’s apocalyptic). These songs are however a genuine personal and heartfelt reach out to those who feel shocked and powerless against what they feel is a country’s shift towards intolerance and isolationism.
Those already moved past the anger and on to depression or resignation, or just wanting to to take a break from the abyss of politics, hearing reminders of what’s ahead until 2020, might find this a bit too much. Nevertheless, if you do find yourself having a second or third wind at activism and change, grab a copy of this and bring it to your next protest rally.
May Terry
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