featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
October 29, 2024
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
How does the future of folk music sound? We might imagine that, by nature, the genre doesn't evolve, that yesterday's folk sounds like today's, which will sound like tomorrow's. But folk is relational. It is a living, breathing, changing thing, as long as people are doing the same.
From East Tennessee, Amythyst Kiah largely came to public awareness as a contributor to the Black folk supergroup Our Native Daughters, alongside Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell. One of Kiah's songs for the outfit's 2019 record, "Black Myself" was recognized with a Grammy nomination. As a solo artist, Amythyst Kiah had already released a couple projects by that point, including 2017's impressive Amythyst Kiah and Her Chest Of Glass. She raised her profile with the release of Wary + Strange in 2021, an intensely personal collection that addressed issues of identity and belonging as a queer Black Southern woman. Of her new album, Still + Bright (Rounder), Kiah has commented, while there's still emotional things going on in the songs, it's a much more fun, collaborative experience.
Produced with Butch Walker, Still + Bright portrays Amythyst Kiah challenging herself to expand on her capacity as a songwriter, to build upon self expression and social critique with elements of visionary storytelling. On songs like "I Will Not Go Down", her futuristic vision targets a dystopian theocracy, pushing back versus moral standards being enforced by the status quo: All this time I've served, but now I see / The only one I never served was me. Featuring the furious guitar work of Billy Strings, Kiah's banjo and handclaps generate a rhythmic, driving current of sound. Cowritten with Sadler Vaden, "Play God and Destroy the World" adds fellow Southern rabble rouser SG Goodman, as well as stabbing guitar and a soaring, wordless vocal accompaniment.
Kiah's own voice is a rich, strong instrument with sturdy lows and gale force highs, as capable of great beauty as stormy condemnation. The waltz-time "Dead Stars" portrays a train ride from hell, but includes a beautiful, string-enhanced chorus and a more standard contemporary folk arrangement: Out the window were fields full of sheep / And I envied them. Another vocal highlight, "Let's See Ourselves Out" includes the iconic harmonica of Mickey Raphael as Kiah ponders the species: Sometimes I wonder if we're just a mistake / Billions of primates who can't seem to find their way. With Butch Walker, Kiah's songs vastly overflow our expectations for a folk palette, with Ellen Angelico's electric guitars, Matty Alger's creative drumming, and the producers' own instrumental contributions. Best known for her work with Duhks, Tania Elizabeth adds fiddle to songs like "S P A C E", expressions that range from fiery to flowing. Angelico also handles mandolin and dobro on the sessions.
Sean McConnell adds his support as a cowriter for a handful of cuts, including the dark vision of "Empire Of Love": My religion is none at all / I build my own cathedrals and let them fall. Walker receives credit on "Silk and Petals" and "Never Alone", with the former inspired by the traditional Lady In the Lake story. Even as a collaborator, Amythyst Kiah stands as the force behind these stormy songs, a prophet in times of trouble. She ends her record with "People's Prayer", as much a pact as a devotional. Written with Rancid's Timothy Armstrong, and enhanced by Angelico's emotive dobro, the song repeats the mantra: We'll hang on for dear life until it's over.
On Still + Bright, Amythyst Kiah has crafted a tapestry that weaves together trad and tomorrow. As a whole, her third full-length projects us into speculative futures, possible consequences of our current flirtations, indulgences and missteps. At times, the collection sounds like the soundtrack to a novel or a movie. We should know better at this point than to expect convention from the songwriter who targets Katie Perry, Green Day, and Joy Division as influences. While she carries with her familiar trappings of the past, Kiah deploys them in service of her own unique vision. It's the future sound of folk.
--------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment