musicspork. music that tastes good.

Best of 2005
The Harpeth Trace
Monster

The Harpeth Trace
Man and the Cousin
Robert Barry Construction Associates
2005

hear this

[12.18.05] We here at Musicspork just love it when an unsolicited album actually turns out to be worth hearing. Such is the case with this treat that appeared in the box this week. We were really hoping that the music would live up to the cover art: a melancholy woodcut that recalls both images from a childhood long since past, as well as melancholy woodcuts that began to appear on psychedelic albums circa 1966.

Man and the Cousin exceeded our expectations. Singer/guitarist Josh Kasselman crafts a sad, delightful and strangely nostalgic tale in just four songs. We see dusty plains wrapped around groves of swaying purple trees. Songs seamlessly mix elements of blues, folk, 1970 AM radio and cuts that didn't make it to any Nuggets compilation. The mood is equally difficult to pin down: the backward tape effects seem to smirk at the minor chord changes on "A Letter to the Room" and the boozy, high desert refrains of "Ghost And You Know It" decay to reveal a suitably spooky flute loop at the song's end. But it all weaves together neatly to present a highly enjoyable story of longing.

Kasselman's voice—light, breathy and drenched in reverb—quickly recalls Neil Halstead. But the Mojave 3 connection doesn't end there: Raymond Richards, engineer for Mojave 3, mixed the EP. Richards and the band opt for a simple, sparse country-style arrangement—voices and guitars mixed way up front—that only reinforces the dreaminess of the songs.

A great EP that we hope will herald a great album in 2006. —JC

Be Musicspork's Friend