featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
August 20, 2023
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
There's generally little edge to americana music. Even as artists address politics, disorder, and conflict, listeners rarely experience dis-ease or offense. Early on at R&B HQ, we pledged to live on that edge where we could find it. Which is why we're grateful for acts like Roselit Bone.
Publicity material for the Portland eight-piece outfit speak to trying times since 2019's Crisis Actor, years which included a divorce, several family deaths ... gender transition, and the beginning of a new relationship. An especially captivating frontperson since Roselit Bone's inception roughly twelve years ago, Charlotte McCaslin has called the experience making that record fucked - a period when her gender dysphoria was forced onto center stage. Her band's new album, Ofrenda (Get Loud), is the product of that dark night, the resolution of that crucible.
On stage, Roselit Bone have been branded a nightly conversion ritual, performing on the frontier between gothic country-folk, ranchera, rockabilly, and punk, part Gun Club and part Slim Cessna. Vandoliers for a darker time, or X with a meatier pulse. Charlotte McCaslin's corporeal imagery is a suitable foil for the band's horns, guitars, and garage-born rhythms. A Springsteen-esque drama plays out on "Ain't No Right Way To Feel", a straightforward rock-n-roller riding on low-slung guitar, rattling percussion, and theatrical keys. McCaslin croons and yelps on her electrified delivery, crying There's only so far down I can kneel. A similar spirit possesses "The Sea in Silhouette", clouded by squalls of electric guitar, the bare bones girl / red-faced and rocking. Roselit Bone commit to a large, aggressive sound, and build arrangements that allow the singer to leap acrobatically from note to note, thrilling even when McCaslin only lands in the vicinity of her target: I am a woman you can hit / I am your desire in silhouette.
Some of Roselit Bone's most fiery moments as performers happen during their country numbers, taking full advantage of Faith Grossnicklaus' violin and the triple-guitar volley of McCaslin, Victor Franklin, and Brian Crace. McCaslin calls "Crying In the USA", a patriotic anthem for a country that doesn't want to exist anymore. With plenty of alt to their country, little if anything is played straight, from the mocking waah-waah-waah backing vocals to the inarguably unflattering portrayal of Main Street USA: In an empty white room but for a tv and a couch / And their balls hanging out of their boxer shorts.
The sound and spirit of Roselit Bone are bright and audacious, like a colorful pulp graphic novel, albeit with poetically dark undertones. The Portland band are at their best when Jordan Vale and John England-Fisher's horns are blazing, and Charlotte McCaslin's songs charge out of the dust of ranchera rhythms. An army of acoustic strumming guitars powers "Truth or Consequences", with the singer's delivery daring new heights as she promises, For four-hundred dollars / I'll buy me some heroin and a gun. Ofrenda's title cut is also the collection's most heartfelt moment, an ultimately triumphant reflection on grief, guilt, and acceptance. With its sweep of percussion and burst of brass, "Ofrenda" is gorgeous, brash, and bold.
The pieces with which Roselit Bone builds their sound are too often parroted by lesser artists, leaving behind the real-lived flesh and blood that animates Mexican music. While it's only one aspect of Charlotte McCaslin's arsenal, it's essential to the band's aggressive approach. "Your Gun" is another defining track, one that might've fit into an early Tarantino flick or an even earlier spaghetti western. McCaslin's wild, remarkable vocal barks and postures, while a brazen sax solo bounces between shadowed alley walls. Ofrenda showcases an act that holds nothing back, fully committing to their sound. And Charlotte McCaslin is a vital force, meriting mention as among the most dynamic frontpeople in our kind of music.
ROUTES-cast AUGUST 20, 2023
- Margaret Glaspy, "Get Back" Echo the Diamond (ATO, 23)
- Sonny & the Sunsets, "Androids" Self-Awareness Through Macramé (Rocks in Your Head, Aug 25)
^ Roselit Bone, "Ofrenda" Ofrenda (Get Loud, Aug 25)
- Suzanne Santo, "Punk Kid" single (Soozanto, 23) D
- Nick Shoulders, "Won't Fence Us In" All Bad (Gar Hole, Sep 8)
- David Dondero, "Wrinkles of Your Mind" Immersion Therapy (Fluff & Gravy, 23)
- DeYarmond Edison, "The Lake" Epoch (Jagjaguwar, 23)
- Shakey Graves, "Playing Along" Movie of the Week (Dualtone, Sep 15)
- Viv & Riley, "Imaginary People" Imaginary People (Free Dirt, Sep 15)
- Lily & Madeleine, "Rolling Rock" Nite Swim (Lily & Madeleine, Oct 6)
- Gregory Alan Isakov, "Watchman" Appaloosa Bones (Dualtone, 23)
- Sun June, "Get Enough" Bad Dream Jaguar (Run for Cover, Oct 20) D
- Blind Boys of Alabama, "Heaven Help Us All" Echoes Of the South (Single Lock, Aug 25)
- Eli Paperboy Reed, "IDKWYCTD (I Came To Play)" Hits and Misses: the Singles (Yep Roc, Oct 20) D
- Bones of JR Jones, "Good Life" Slow Lightning (Bones, Oct 13)
- Buffalo Nichols, "The Difference" The Fatalist (Fat Possum, Sep 8)
- Grahams, "A Good Man" The Grahams (3 Sirens, Sep 8)
- Mapache, "Reflecting Everything" Swinging Stars (Innovative Leisure, 23)
- Jacob Aranda, "My Lovely Friend" War Planes (Speakeasy, Sep 1)
- Kym Register + Meltdown Rodeo, "Loamlands" Meltdown Rodeo (Don Giovanni, 23)
- Harvest Thieves, "Friendly Fire" As the Sparks Fly Upward (Harvest Thieves, Oct 20)
- Ashley Ray, "My Own Place" single (Warner, 23) D
- Nathan Mongol Wells, "Taken For a Ride" From a Dark Corner (State Fair, 23)
- John R Miller, "Conspiracies, Cults & UFOs" Heat Comes Down (Rounder, Oct 6)
- Howdies, "Buddies" Howdies All Around (Normaltown, Sep 29)
- Teddy Thompson, "Satisfied Mind" My Love of Country (Chalky Sounds, 23)
- Van Plating, "Hard Way (ft Reckless Kelly)" Orange Blossom Child (Singular, Sep 15)
- Shane Smith & the Saints, "Pancho & Lefty (ft Hayes Carll)" Texas Wild (Lower Colorado Record Authority, Oct 27)
- Brent Cobb, "When Country Came Back To Town" Southern Star (Ol' Buddy, Sep 22)
- Will Hoge, "Can I Be Country Too" single (EDLO, 23) D
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