The Milk Carton Kids – The Only Ones
Milk Carton Records (with Thirty Tigers) – 6 December 2019
The solo careers of Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan initially came to a propitious end in 2011 when they connected up in Los Angeles. With their two acoustic guitar and close harmony singing format, the duo known as The Milk Carton Kids got their big break with an appearance in the T Bone Burnett/Joel & Ethan Coen produced “Another Day Another Time” concert, celebrating the music of “Inside Llewyn Davis.”
Their rise to fame was swift, two Grammy Award nominations, the first for debut album The Ash and Clay in the ‘Best Folk Album’ category, the second, for ‘Best American Roots Performance’ followed in 2015, reflected their emergence as a major force in the American folk field. Their previous release, 2018’s All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do, (previewed here), saw them pushing the boundaries and experimenting, expanding their sound with a full band, which included pianos, strings and drums.
Their follow-up, however, The Only Ones, released on 10″ vinyl here on 6th December, sees them returning to their roots, just their voices alongside Kenneth’s 1954 Martin 0-15 and Joey’s 1951 Gibson J45 acoustic guitars, the configuration which originally made their name. This seven-track collection of stark duo songs, recorded at the House of Blues Studios in Encino, California during July of this year will be showcased by the pair touring the US in small, intimate venues with low ticket prices, whilst in early 2020 they will return to the UK to perform a run of shows, along with an appearance at Celtic Connections.
The songs focus in on subjects ranging from lost love, yearning and life itself to more nuanced and focussed historical and ideological areas, at least according to my interpretation of the lyrics. From the opening moments, the music truly draws the listener in; whilst The Only Ones is, presumably, a carefully chosen title in terms of referencing the number of performers, there is certainly no exclusivity when it comes to sharing the experience on offer.
Opening track, I Meant Every Word I Said, a relationship song which addresses a lover’s wish to turn away from the infighting, is somewhat in keeping with much of the duo’s oeuvre, gloom and melancholy often a feature in their writing, and the sullen, morose approach matches the lyrical content well.
‘I don’t want to fight anymore
Maybe you were right
I’m so tired’
Discord, threatened or actual, also informs I’ll Be Gone, a country/western/bluegrass flavoured song which is driven by fine harmonies and showcases some tasteful finger-picking too
‘I ain’t one for leaving
But if you treat me wrong
I’ll be gone
Gone before the sun goes down’
The title track, The Only Ones, exudes confidence and seemingly presents a more contented, even enthusiastic, outlook, with a chorus again suggesting leaving, or at least moving on, but this time with more optimism
‘Let’s make a ride off to the blistering sun
Let’s wake the morning like we already won
Baby let’s fake it like we aren’t the only ones’
The pair zoom out from the personal to the wider world with My Name Is Ana, which succeeds in dealing , albeit tangentially, with immigration and deportation through a moving reimagining of The Diary Of Anne Frank, recounting the story of a young girl
‘My name is Ana
You might have read about me
I live in the attic with my family
I leave the lights off
So nobody can see
I sleep with my shoes on in case they come for me’
Stylistically, all songs on the E.P. are written from the first-person perspective, with the duo lending their voices to the character about whom they are singing. This technique, which emphasises and enriches the story of the protagonist, along with the aforementioned pared-back instrumental accompaniment, serves to bring the people in the songs much closer to the listener, perhaps The Only Ones refers to this pairing.
Both As the Moon Starts to Rise, which references love and the natural world and the enigmatic About the Size of a Pixel exemplify the sparse, almost minimalistic, tranquil tone of the release. This before the majesty of the closing song I Was Alive. Whilst the lyrics on the latter allude to the joy of being alive, despite the best efforts of forces, both natural and man-made, working to destroy rather than create, it is the beauty of the guitar playing which elevates this track. Their weaving and intertwining creates an ethereal effect and makes for a graceful end to the release.
For some, this latest offering from The Milk Carton Kids might be seen as a regression, whilst for others, the conscious decision to return to recapture the former glories will be seen as a positive move. What cannot be denied is that with The Only Ones the duo’s close harmony and acoustic guitar approach creates a powerfully intimate experience and one that deserves to be shared.