People love little genre tags.
Alt-folk is one.
Anyone who plays acoustically and likes the sound of the
fiddle and mandolin are often bundled together and pushed into a box that is
already full to the brim of guys wearing tweed, sporting bushy beards and
refusing to wear socks.
It’s not really fair though.
The folk fraternity is in reality a broad church.
It’s a very large umbrella that people can shelter under as they experiment
and co-exist happily next to each other.
So basically the point is that no one should take the quick
glancing Mumford and Sons overview and dismiss those who are ploughing that
particular field, because if they do then they are apt to miss out on how good Have
Mercy Las Vegas are.
As here they are - with their debut full length - delivering
a confident antidote to the stadium stomp of what some may perceive modern day
folk to sounds like.
With a nuanced understanding that the past is just the
foundation for the future they are melding the traditional with the modern in a
far more effective manner than many of their peers.
Much of the original material revisits the sound of Scottish
band The Humpff Family, and yet that’s entirely coincidental as when I
mentioned it to band member Stephen Scott he was unaware for their existence.
His ignorance of them actually ties in neatly with how they
are really a product of the same environment rather than looking to pay homage
to a particular sound.
And sound-wise there’s no real down side.
From songs that would lend themselves to soundtracking a hoe-down
to more introspective moments that are evocatively emotional the band are
consistently delivering a quality performance.
With a recent local television appearance drawing some well
deserved attention to them, a slew of live dates that will further cement their
reputation, and work already done on a follow up release it is already looking as
if 2015 could be this bands year.
So I shouldn't really need to say that grabbing a copy of ‘That’s
Life’ now and telling everyone that you were there first will make you the smug King or Queen of Smugland when every one else catches on, but there you go. I sort
of just did.
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