My belated post below about the Josh Ritter show I went to a while back brings to mind the fact that I discovered Eric Bachmann there. He opened for Ritter that night and he totally blew my mind. While this will lose me some cred in the eyes of some people, I had no idea who he was but, thankfully, managed to catch his whole set that night because I misjudged the actual start-time of the show. Bachmann was the frontman of Archers of Loaf and currently fronts Crooked Fingers (hence the cred-losing thing: I've never really listened to either of those bands before even though I probably should have).At any rate, he impressed me so much with his opening set that I bought his album the next day, To the Races (pictured above), and have been listening to it pretty much non-stop since then. Calling it merely acoustic folk seems a bit of a let-down even though that is precisely what is: it's stripped down folk at its best.
If for nothing else, this album should be explored for the opening song alone. Man o'War is lyrically dense and haunting in it's build-up (but those who know me well also know I'm a sucker for a slow-build). It incorporates so much imagery and room for interpretation, in fact, that I'm still unsure as to whether the song is about Man o'War (as the album title would suggest), a man o'war (as the opening line and the references to blue bottles suggests), or a Man of War (as the imagery of the ocean and sinking suggests). Perhaps them all? In my opinion, like similar-in-style Dylan lyrics, it doesn't really matter.
So, if you get a chance, check it out. And I'm talking to you, Boo.
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