The Harpeth Trace – Man and The Cousin

The Harpeth Trace
Man And The Cousin

There used to be a band called Boxing that the Shmat had reviewed on his site awhiles back, but at this particular point in time he can’t seem to find that CD. It could also have something to do with wiggy confusion over all the bands that have “Box” in the name that have been reviewed such as: Boxborough, Boxing Rebellion, Box Underscore, The Boxer Program, etc etc…

But anyway, Josh from Boxing sent the Shmat this nice little EP called Man and The Cousin which is from his new band The Harpeth Trace. The overall sound of the songs tends toward the dreamy, creepy and darkly carnivalesque, but Josh’s voice is not your typical dream-folk rocker’s. There’s a bit of a gravelly smoker’s tinge to these songs, like Dylan or Will Oldham singing Red House Painters songs that the Shmat liked.

The music is sparse, spare and undeniably minor, sometimes sounding like echoey Dirty Three or Songs:Ohia. The feel also reminds the Shmat sometimes of a great band from Denton called Shiny Around The Edges as well as a bunch of the artists from Hush or Keep Recordings.

“Cottontail” combines angular guitar chords with a falsetto that occasionaly reminded the Shmat of My Morning Jacket. “A Letter To The Room” is arguably the most upbeat of the songs. Fair warning – if you don’t like slower music, you might be falling asleep. The title track is a porch rock waltz that sounds like a Simon and Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair filtered through dirty leaves and Southern trees. “Ghost and You Know It” could be a Mazzy Star outtake. At least the music could be, with its slow drumbeat, oozing bass and restless guitar in the background. Very evocative songs.

Members:

Rob Poynter – drums, percussion
Barry Poage – bass guitar
Josh Kasselman – guitar, vocals

The Harpeth Trace website

by Shmat