It seems that everyone these days thinks people don’t listen to albums. “The album is dead, long live shuffle mode and forgettable singles” proclaim the mainstream press. “Utter nonsense” retorts the editor of this particular website. I love a good album, something like Ryan Adams’ ‘Heartbreaker’ or Tom Waits’ ‘The Heart of Saturday Night’; something on vinyl you can play from beginning to end over a bottle of wine, something that lets you sit back and enjoy. No tracks to skip. No shuffle buttons to press. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you ‘Albatross’ by Sons of Caliber.
A good album is a result of hard work, dedication and craftsmanship and should be enjoyed as it was recorded. Sons of Caliber acquiesce and in the Black Box, Belfast, lavishly resplendent with paper lanterns and an assortment of flora and fauna, we are treated to a track by track performance of ‘Albatross’ as it was intended to be experienced.
‘Jackdaw’ sets the pace and harks back to the sound of Andrew Farmer we’ve become accustomed to over the last three or four years with deep vocal delivery and that big strum that almost became the trademark sound of new-folk while ‘Head Over Heels’is more about the atmosphere, the romance; it’s one of those songs that could be a man at his happiest or at his utter wits end with love. It’s pretty achingly beautiful.
Vocalist and maestro of the keys Rosie Barry, has been one of the longest serving, albeit faux-sons in an ever changing lineup through the years and is given a real chance to shine in ‘Boughs Break’. The live sound gives a muddier, grittier feel to all the tracks. The layering up of synths, strings and vocals gives a depth to these newer tunes and a completely new slant to the likes of ‘Foxes and Ravens’ that’s been around for almost as long as the band itself. Written with the other original ‘son’ who’s now out west gigging as Jude Moses, it’s Sons of Caliber at their rural best. It’s Appalachian Americana from the Antrim Glens.
Back up to full pace on ‘The Rook’ with the band sounding expansive and a tight percussive breakdown before easing into ‘Break My Back’. There are little glimmers of light breaking through the hugely dark and brooding, emotive melodies. We’re thinking a more tuneful Conor Oberst on ‘Fevers and Mirrors’, Springsteen on ‘The River’ or Noah and the Whale’s ‘First Days of Spring’. It’s all of those and yet something more unique.
The music evolves and changes and so do we.
Andrew Farmer – Sons of Caliber
We’ve watched Andrew Farmer’s Sons of Caliber grow from a finger-picking, banjo-tinged two piece into a soaring indie-folk outfit and it’s perhaps fitting that tonight’s highlight is a reworking of an early tune ‘Young Dove’. Never exactly an ugly duckling but now the beautiful swan of the set, it swoops in on strings and takes flight until the sweetly harmonised outro. The kick-drum thump and banjo plucks have gone. The Marcus Mumford shackles have been released and with seamless key changes, lap steel lead crescendos and Dave McComb dropping some additional backing vocals and bass the album is rounded off with ‘Fletcher’ and ‘Yellow Rose’.
At only forty minutes it’s a short set – over too soon yet beautifully played and while we know there are plenty more tunes in the Caliber cannon, a pounding performance of‘Ship Aground’ draws the evening to a close. With record in hand, long time fans and new converts head for home, open up their music players, press play on track one and set sail once again.
Buy ‘Albatross’ by Sons of Caliber on iTunes.