Mama’s Broke – Count The Wicked
Self-Released – Out Now
Musicians may well be living in an age when live performance is their bread and butter and that can only be good news. But thank goodness the album has held on as an important artistic statement for any act taking their craft seriously. On this debut album by Canadian folk duo Mama’s Broke, a good deal of care and attention has gone into every detail. Initially driven by a Kickstarter campaign in 2017, the finished work is self-released so in every sense it’s a piece that has been born out of considered integrity. The Aaron Zak artwork, vintage folk-art in style, hints at the music’s preoccupation with the natural world and the trials of human nature and evolution within. Handwritten lyrics display on a fold-out insert and best of all, the instrumental tunes are represented by some basic hand-drawn sheet music notation; not detailed by a long stretch but at least a basic melody can be picked out and developed by the players amongst us. Therein encapsulates one of the key intentions of Mama’s Broke as a unit, to break down boundaries between player and listener, to push for inclusivity and a communal approach to music. As for the members; Amy Lou takes care of one side of the vocals as well as banjo and guitar. Lisa Marie completes the vocals whilst also juggling an impressive combination of fiddle, mandolin, guitar, fiddlesticks and foot percussion. What’s abundantly clear is that they have pure folk DNA pumping through their veins. The music has its roots laid bare, there are no concessions here to 21st-century recording techniques, it’s an old-fashioned record that captures unadorned acoustics and natural performance. The harmonies feel like the purest, clean spring water and the playing has an ebb and flow, blowing hard and gentle like changes in the breeze.
‘Count The Wicked’ is a strong debut, a journey through rural early 20th century Americana that’s fizzing with melodic ideas and tales to tell. Like all decent folk stories, there are weedy shoots of evil, dark claws breaking through the cracks in floorboards. ‘True False True Lover’ is a rough-edged snapshot of a doomed, destructive sexual relationship. The tales are never sweetened with easy answers either, but these two don’t just focus on personal turmoil, they cast the net wide. To that end ‘Black Rock Beach’ sings in graphic detail about a public hanging. “Now her lovely feet will never touch the ground, so we’ll raise our glasses to that gasping sound” they sing before Lisa’s agitated fiddle work intensifies the drama with giddying reels and repetitions. Moments like these are in plentiful supply on the album, as both the vocals and the playing rise and fall in tandem with the horrors crawling out of the lyrics. But the thing I loved above all is the way this track, which on completion leaves you puffing out your breath, is not jettisoned by a quick subject change. On the contrary, the next track is an instrumental, ‘Revulsion (Black Bile)’, that serves as a sombre reflection to the storms we have just witnessed. Once again, the violin takes the lead here, scraping slowly like fingernails down a blackboard, before the tempo lifts in anger and adrenaline as the musicians appear to try and lash out at the revulsion they are feeling. Of course, I may be misreading the duo’s intentions here, granted, but isn’t that a sign that an album has fully engaged you, when your mind starts trying to make sense of the feelings the music is stoking inside you? Further in ‘The Vein Braider’ comes lurching into view, the music punch drunkenly lurching from side to side, slipping and sliding before finding a foot-stomping groove that brings a few moments of light relief to the heavy-duty drama unfolding all around us.
‘Wrecking Need’ has an old-time, slow western swing vibe and the surprise element of some exquisite steel guitar soloing from Zach Crawford. Alcohol dependency is at the heart of this tune, that and the all too inevitable self-destructiveness it induces. Songs that conclude with a line like “god knows by now I got plenty good reasons, to keep on holding the wrong side of the knife in my hand” are not to be filed under easy listening. Nestled away as the penultimate track on the set, it is a wonderful late revelation as this is a strong contender for song of the album. So fully is this authentic bit of Americana realised that it would sit comfortably on a Gillian Welch album, showing high standard song writing that in the space of four minutes argues beyond doubt that Mama’s Broke need to keep evolving with this project. There are many hundreds of performers who can conjure up an authentic sound, but to write great songs as well, that is a talent not to be sniffed at. Finally, beautifully and appropriately for such a well-constructed passage of music and songs, the record closes with a mournful reprise of the earlier instrumental ‘Weak Winter’s Sun’. Debut albums as strong as this should not be ignored.
https://youtu.be/ek-aegwbYzc
Count the Wicked is out now. Don’t miss their UK Tour and Festival dates including Sidmouth and Purbeck Valley Folk Festival (dates below).
UK Tour Dates
21/07 – The Live Room, SHIPLEY
22/07 – Rivertown, BRISTOL
23/07 – The Half Moon, LONDON
24/07 – Radcliffe Market Hall, BURY
25/07 – Blue Sky Cafe, BANGOR
26/07 – The Cobblestone Pub, DUBLIN
28/07 – Square Chapel Centre for the Arts, HALIFAX
30/07 – The Courtyard HEREFORD
31/07 – Manorbier Youth Hostel, TENBY
01/08 – Cafe#9, SHEFFIELD
02/08 – The Hug & Pint, GLASGOW
03/08 – The Old Cinema Launderette, DURHAM
04/08 – Valley Fest, BRISTOL
06/08 – Square & Compass, SWANAGE
07/08 – The Sidmouth Folk Festival, SIDMOUTH
09/08 – B-Bar, PLYMOUTH
11/08 – The Acorn, PENZANCE
15/08 – Cecil Sharp House, LONDON
16/08 – Green Man Festival, CRICKHOWELL
18/08 – Purbeck Valley Folk Festival, HARMANS CROSS