Utah Carol - "Comfort for the Traveller"

Utah Carol are Grant Birkenbeuel and JinJa Davis from Chicago. They have been writing together since '95 and 'Comfort for the Traveller' is their 2nd release. That they are a husband and wife act from Chicago suggests that we could be in for some Handsome Family-esque Urban Gothic Country Death Songs. Not so, whilst there are similarities on some tracks here, the Carols are a lot more varied in their approach and a damn site better adjusted than the Sparkses are.

Much of 'Comfort…' has a West Coast Psych Pop vibe and on 'Find A Way' I found myself thinking of Throwing Muses. On 'Silver Space Rocket', the record's first great moment, it's a full-on jangle fest then straight away we're into the come down of 'See the Sun', a pastoral bliss-out circa 1968, lovely. When they decide to add a dash of Twang to the proceedings they do it not in the 'My dog is dead, the factory closed down, my girl done left me for the mailman' approach, but rather in nostalgic vignettes of bygone America. 'Misfits' has an almost nursery rhyme quality to it and is almost in Handsomes territory, 'Angel' is a country song but performed by the BBC Orchestra, kitsch country anyone? 'Promised Land canters along the prairie accompanied by a fairground organ. 'When We're Apart' is a straight forward country duet kitchen sink drama which flows neatly into the funky 'Soda Fountain' a nearly instrumental track built around a funky drummer style drum loop. JinJa adds some scat vocals as the track builds and then gently fades out to the sound of JinJa telling that she'll be alone for the rest of her days. 'Nellie' evokes Luscious Jackson's jazzy breaks and is an unexpected pleasure.

So with all these ideas going on, how come 'Comfort for the Traveller' doesn't come across as a big eclectic mess? Utah Carol have taken two years to produce this record and obviously the quality control inspectors visited on more than one occasion. But Birkenbeuel and Davis have managed to spread their ideas across the record in such a way that the listener is exposed to an ever-changing sonic landscape without feeling displaced by the different sound.

So there you have it then, who said Americana was one-dimensional? Utah Carol have made a true Americana record in the pioneering spirit, give them a go Americana Needs You.

Check out Utah Carol's award winning website - utahcarol.com

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