MARiE/LEPANTO, GULF COLLiDE

ROUTES & BRANCHES

featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music

August 21, 2021 (really much later than I'd intended)

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Like superheroes, music artists can have an origin story, an intro the brings us up to date in the event we're jumping on in midstream. Marie/Lepanto is Will Johnson and Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster, coming together each with a rich history of collaboration. Their curious moniker reportedly comes from a roadsign posted halfway between their respective homes of SE Missouri and W Arkansas. The duo's premier project, 2018's Tenkiller held a spot in my ten favorites for the year. I wrote: Tenkiller succeeds in advancing the respective sonic palette of both artists, reigning in Johnson's tendency for sprawl 'n squall (not complaining), while simultaneously pushing the limits of Kinkel-Schuster's quieter acoustic work (still not complaining). 

Marie/Lepanto's follow-up, Gulf Collide arrives with little evident fanfare, and is presently only available on Bandcamp. Where Tenkiller favored acoustic settings and featured only Johnson and Kinkel-Schuster, the new project invites honorary members and Johnson collaborators Matt Pence and Britton Beisenherz on drums and keys, respectively. The moments of explosive guitar on the first sessions have been brought to the fore to largely define Gulf's larger, more band-driven vibe. Where Marie/Lepanto's debut simmered, the follow-up boils over. 

This is most apparent on "Gramps and Grandma", alternating between monster guitar riffs with pummeling drums and more mannered piano-backed verses with the refrain They kept on loving me. Jason Isbell joins the band for a wild, almost over-the-top solo. Elsewhere, choppy guitars churn beneath "Wise Blood", even as a strong melody recalls Bob Mould's work with Sugar. "Eureka Flame" races along on a pulsing current of guitar as the duo provide unexpectedly tight vocal harmonies. 

Johnson and Kinkel-Schuster alternate lead vocal duties, but those harmonies are present throughout Gulf Collide, driving home the tunefulness that coexists with the heavy noise. The record's title track showcases this vocal rapport with relatively minor accompaniment. JPKS delivers the lead on "The Mission", reflecting on how we carry on our mundane chores even as the natural world takes its dying breath: Sunup was a purple bruise of light / It occurred to me / We might have missed the last chance there will be / To repel a rising sea. The dark but warm moments of folk songcraft recall Tenkiller, but they land more fully formed and richer for the band arrangements. You'll hear that more open, direct strategy on "Respectability". With a nod to British folk, the song recalls a moment when a visit from a charity church group leads a child to become aware of his family's situation: That was the first time that I felt ashamed of my folks / And somehow it's never the same / Cause charity fights you to see if you'll take it / I wish that I'd tossed all that shit in the garbage / Like baby Moses in the reeds. 

Where Marie/Lepanto's 2018 debut carried the air of a fortunate one-off collaboration, Gulf Collide's tighter, more complete sessions seem like something more, especially with the addition of Pence and Beisenherz. The new collection seems well in line with the groundbreaking work of Centro-Matic and Water Liars, even as the songs bring forward the more thoughtful and lyric-focused solo work of Johnson and Kinkel-Schuster. The stormy closer, "Uinta" makes an argument for Marie/Lepanto as successors of Jason Molina. With Will Johnson's intimate delivery, guitars peal as they echo patiently across seven minutes of exquisite noise. 

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Good news is that my delay in publishing our most recent review means there has been a literal ton of new stuff dropped into A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster since our last update. Home in This World: Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads features some great artists revisiting the man's 1940 collection. Shovels & Rope, Waxahatchee, Felice Brothers and more add their interpretations to the September 10 release (Elektra). For his third release in as many years, Joshua Ray Walker concludes his character-driven trilogy of records with See You Next Time (State Fair, October 8). Azniv Korkejian performs as Bedouine. The LA based artist presents a follow-up to her 2017 debut and 2019 critical rave with Waysides (Orchard, October 15). Following a tremendous solo set, Nathaniel Rateliff reunites with his Night Sweats. We can expect The Future via Stax on November 5. Finally, after a multiple award-winning first collaboration, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are reunited for Raise the Roof (Rounder, November 19).