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- Postcard from Milwaukee: 'Howl Street' from Juniper Tar
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| Postcard from Milwaukee: 'Howl Street' from Juniper Tar |
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By Blaine Schultz  A few years ago every review of a somber kid with an acoustic guitar seemed obligated to make a reference to Nick Drake. Problem was none of them sounded anything like Nick Drake. Recently every band that has anything close to vocal harmonies gets compared to Crosby, Stills and Nash and that whole hippie scene. Thankfully Juniper Tar doesn’t sound like either but they have the earthiness of Drake and one of their strengths is multi-part harmonies that instead of being sweet actually grabs the listener by the ear – a huge part is that Appalachian Everly Brothers DNA hoodoo of the Brothers Schleicher. Songwriter Jason Mohr writes songs that the band earnestly invests in and the musicians fearlessly follow him off the cliff. “Old Mystery” begins with a Celtic guitar riff and keeps swirling upwards – hinting at perhaps a rural “Marquee Moon.” For the Howl Street EP the band’s lineup includes Mohr (vocals, guitar), Aaron Schleicher (guitar, vocals), Tuc Krueger (drums, percussion), Ryan Schleicher (bass, vocals), Chris DeMay (piano, Hammond B3, Wurlitzer, guitar), Allen Cote (lap steel guitar) and producer Shane Hochstetler. Building from a rumbling bassline “Birds in the Trees” coda winds out with some guitars replicating the starlings that will wake you up way too early in Austin, Texas, when you have a hangover from too much Shiner Bock and not enough sleep. Yes, the damn bird references are as much a part of Juniper Tar as ever. myspace.com/junipertar * * * The Off Key is the name of Juniper Tar’s Aaron Schleicher project where he posted a song each week for 2009. “The Sun’s Too Bright This Morning,” the entry for 11/1/2009, sounds like it crawled off a Galaxie 500 b-side. Elsewhere he ranges from proto-Eno (“Airtran 546”) and subtle folk-based tunes like “New Orleans,” a collaboration with lyricist Todd Lazarski. So far the mainline hit is a mindbending tune titled “Pieces,” complete with wobbly Echoplex sounds and vocals drifting in from the next county, that take their own sweet time in coming into focus. theoffkey.tumblr.com * * * The Oxford American 11th Annual Southern Music Issue – True Soul and Other Sounds is on the shelves. Unless that is you can’t find it and have to order a copy like I did. Sleepy LaBeef, Frank Frost, Larry Donn, Little Beaver, Sonny Burgess and Bongo Joe Coleman are among the artists profiled. And this year along with a compilation CD the magazine includes an Arkansas-centric disc. n |
