Drag City
Alasdair Roberts : ‘No Earthly Man’ (UK,2005)***° (VG->PERF)
I knew Alasdair Roberts before from the Hand/Eye compilation and from his very dark murder ballads release. One of Alasdair foundations with no doubt is the Scottish & British folk tradition of singing stories. That’s what he does here too, like a grandfather near the hearth, here varying from a slightly melancholic lonely sphere, but without the true sad emotions, with only the content having weight, like telling heavy, hard lesson stories made accessible through the tale-like sphere, in a more uplifted folk sphere. The first tracks are, like on ‘Murder Ballads’, minimal, with voice as a lone leader, but the more light tracks have a bit more rhythm and arrangements, especially nice on “A Lyke Wake Dirge”. I like also a lot the subtle arrangement of a second, female voice on “The Two Brothers”.
Cooperating on this album were Belle And Sebastian's Isobel Campbell on cello, John McCusker on violin Magnolia Electric Company’s Jason Molina, and Will Oldham (leader of Palace/Bonnie "Prince"Billie/..).
