Search - Court & Spark :: Witch Season

Beautiful.

A. B. Sartin | South, USA | 09/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Court and Spark's newest, Witch Season, is a fabulously mood-altering experience. Instead of being a strictly melancholy voice like other contemporaries of their genre (such as Handsome Family, Lambchop, My Morning Jacket), they choose to present their unique blend of Burrito Bros. country and modern indie pop/americana/no depression-ish with an overarching sense of wonder.



Sure, the occasional hint of dark enters the mix, but the general feel of the album is one of any given week- there will be ups, and there will be downs. It's all part of a well rounded life, and it makes for a very well-balanced release.



The production is flawless, with lead singer M.C. Taylor's soothing voice meshing seasmlessly into the twang-lounge backdrop of the instrumental track. This is not hard-hitting rock; it's an exercise in exploring the boundaries of country and lounge jazz.



Hopefully Amazon will soon have samples to peruse. This is definitely my first must-have album of the fall."

A new transcendant form of American music

Charles Hayes | New York | 12/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard C&S in 2002 listening to an NPR review of their "Bless You" album. I was instantly hooked, and since then they have been the music I most want to play and the kind I most identify with. Every weekend I'd find solace playing their singular blend of American roots music and electronic impressionism that forms for me the perfect balance of figurative and abstract music. This is an alt-country with the accent on the alt. The twang sounds utterly authentic, drawn from the music native to this soil since the Indians were booted off of it, but never jingoistic and riff-reliant like so much so called Country or Country & Western music is. Folks have compared their music to that of Gram Parsons, but as lead songwriter/singer M.C. Taylor has the courage to affirm, Parsons' music is good but kind of overrated. Listening to the C&S is to be treated to an almost symphonic representation of the post-Gold Rush American sensibility, with sonic impressions of the (western) American landscape that brilliantly mirror the terrain of the inner psyche. The music ventures into the dark lands, into dissonant, blighted passes, but always brings you back, in its own sweet time, to the rich California sunlight via the dry, warm, near-cracking voice of Taylor, singing compelling yet dusky lyrics in tones as assuring as those of the old men of the mountain. The pedal steel guitar whimpers, stokes, and sweeps emotively, lighting up a dark canvas like the headlights on a distance car brightening a lonely desert night. Playing music so exquisitely layered,this band has earned the twang it renders with not a hint of self-conscious hoke that almost every other so-called country artist has. C&S has managed to reproduce what seems to be the true pace of time, at times excruciatingly but redeedingly slow, like a flower opening to the sun, or a heart opening up to a lover. The band will not be rushed for no one, not for quick recogniation of a hit single, not for any musical fashion. This is the real deal, folks. At times the delicate quality of the music harkened me back to the music of the late-discovered British 60s folksinger Nick Drake, whose wispy strum and strings-aided music was crafted, in part, by Joe Boyd of Witch Season Productions. I gather that there is some allusion to Drake's music in the titling of this album. For me, though, all five of their records represent a continuous work that stretches the frontiers of American music, and does so with tremendous melodic grace and musical and psychical integrity. This is only the beginning of what I'll be writing about them; I hope to write a full-length magazine piece on the band in the coming months. Get this band's records! (The LP of "Bless You" is phenomenal!)"

Great album

A. Nate | NYC | 11/18/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While not as dense and expirimental as their last full length, Witch Season is still a highly gratifying listen. C&S still go for mood first and foremost. Many of the songs like Sundowner and Denver Annie sound more romantic than anything they've ever done, while With the Horseshoe King and Swimming Endlessly is rather melancholy. The sound on the album is full and repeat listens will unearth a wealth of subtle diverse instrumentation."