In "How Deep And Wide," a simple Donovan-like tune with a creepy minor-key break alternates with a traditional-dance instrumental theme and a folk-rock chorus a la the Roches. That structural complexity is of a piece with the irregular rhythms of the wordless "Finny in The Long Run," the jazzy harmonics of "Worms in the Night," and the jiglike but harmonically complex "Sliwa the Cat," which picks up on the Celtic dance theme and adds a merry concertina to the mix.
Jay Mankita uses bits and pieces from various folk traditions to say his piece. His generous talent and heart will bring warmth to the spirits of - to use an overused but useful cliche - children of all ages. His CDs are available at CD Baby here.
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Aaron McMullen, 75mg
Aaron McMullen's latest lo-fi Web album is another collection of miniature slices of life in the dual locales of drunken urban streets and a sensitive mess of grey matter circa 2005, and circa any year. Many of the songs have a fragmentary nature, but some, such as The Nick Cave-like "Sad Song Sung" and the dramatic-as-Brel "City Country City," display an increasing songwriting maturity on the part of this fella who's always had a way with words: "Oh, here in the dark beneath these sheets,/I watched a play performed by spirits midst the twisting waves of heat/And when the play was through, I had a wakin dream a you."
Behold a true Irish poet of the back alleys. "Oh, and the queen done propositioned me,/He had a song he sang to me/Was a tattered love song, ode to someone chewed the soul from outta him/But the song that snared my senses, yeah,/Wasn’t his, was someone else’s, yeah/And I can’t recall a single line,/An I never heard that song again." Treading the knife edge of consciousness, these songs pull on you like a feral cat its prey. If he builds up his vocal power McMullen could make a serious impact with language like this.
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