Stoney Joe
Fuel For The Fire
Head Records
Stoney Joe’s third
long-player is an interesting beast. Essentially a collection of dark night
country (banjo, double bass, mandolin, various acoustic guitars), the band have
continued with their penchant for sparse electronica, adding to this time
honoured genre a modern bent.
This is my first encounter
with the West Australian quartet and so initially, the addition of “a vintage
1980s synthesizer”, and to a lesser extent the melodica, seemed alien and out
of place. After repeated listens however, the quiet drones and extremely
minimal beats they create add a rather beguiling extra layer to the group’s
four-part harmonies, the plunking of the banjo, the sharp shimmer of the mando.
It’s most evident on tracks like No More Roving, Broken String Theory and
instrumental opener Green Gums. The fact it’s not overdone is the reason it
doesn’t become intrusive.
Still, to my mind, Stoney Joe
are at their best when stepping back in time. The harmonies overlaying acoustic
guitar on Holy Waters are fantastic, the banjo-driven Use Your Mind and
Hammerfall are pure hoedown, all holler and hoo-ee. Rising Water is a
combination of both, one of the strongest tracks on an album which definitely
begs deeper exploration.
Samuel J. Fell
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