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With their second full-length album, this Rhode Island trio with a penchant for 'morally agnostic narrative' seem to have come of age. Oh My God, Charlie Darwin is a slow grower, and their folky but distinctly anthemic brand of Americana manages to transcend its influences through a combination of sturdy melodies and sometimes startling lyrical imagery.
The Low Anthem's other trademark is their novel arrangements, with all members being multi-instrumentalists. Ben Miller's vocals range from the Bon Iver-ish falsetto of the title track to a ragged blues holler, and he plays banjo, mouth organ and the occasional trumpet. Jocie Adams' clarinet lends a chamber folk ambience in several places, and Jeffrey Prystowsky plucks a double bass. On top of this, everybody chops and changes on guitars, drums and the pump organ that supplies a luminous background drone on more than half the tracks.
The way the tranquil beauty of the opening brace of songs is rudely disturbed by the blues stomp of The Horizon Is A Beltway remains jarring after several plays, which makes this the album's main weakness. It's followed in a similar vein by a version of Home I'll Never Be, a Tom Waits song that uses Jack Kerouac's words. Ticket Taker returns to more pastoral territory, suggesting a more melodic Lambchop, and then there's the swelling To The Ghosts Who Write History Books, with Miller's mouth organ underlining the band's interest in Neil Young.
(Don't) Tremble seems to echo the traditional Mockingbird Song, with its list of conditionals, the most memorable of which goes, ''If the winds surround your house/Don't twist and twist about/Wait it out''.
The best of the rowdier pieces is Champion Angel, which rides an elastic guitar groove and features surreal lyrics that recall Dylan and The Band at their sneering best. Cage The Songbird and the title track (the meaning of which is pretty opaque) both have a churchy feel, which once again underlines why the band chose their name. Chances are there will be plenty of worshippers before too long. --Jon Lusk
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CD
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Horton
Format:Audio CD
Currently cleaning up at all the respectable awards Stateside, The Low Anthem's second album is one of this century's finest releases. Cutting to the heart of old America (almost a musical version of Cormac McCarthy's novels) via pump organ, harmonica, woodwind and guitars, the ten songs presented here are spiritual and muscular marvels. Ben Knox Miller's voice ranges from a heartbreaking falsetto to a gruff bluesy wail, and the chamber-country arrangements behind him are a soundtrack in themselves. Personal faves are the elegiac God Cage the Songbird and bouncy Horizon Is a Beltway (that's a ring road, btw), but in truth the lyrical and musical near-genius displayed by Miller, Jeff Prystowsky and Jocie Adams will leave you reaching for superlatives. Worth mentioning also is their debut effort (minus Adams) What the Crow Brings, which first showcased Miller as a writer of extraordinary ballads with a timeless quality. This trio from Rhode Island are quietly making a massive impact. Catch up with them before Hollywood and everyone else does.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This just came out of nowhere qnd it is stunning,there is of course the fact that it is on the excellent Bella Union label,also the home of Fleet Foxes,the music is laid back American with an edge,the harmonies are stunning and throughout this 12 track romp,you get the feeling that this is a band with a heart.
The songs,some upbeat,some not,are all listenable,and if this is an indication on the talent,this is a band to be reckoned with,particularly listen out for"Ohio" "Charlie Darwin" and "To the ghosts who wrote the history books"beautiful and eerie.
The songs,some upbeat,some not,are all listenable,and if this is an indication on the talent,this is a band to be reckoned with,particularly listen out for"Ohio" "Charlie Darwin" and "To the ghosts who wrote the history books"beautiful and eerie.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By Gannon
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
Americana is experiencing a sustained period of popularity, and it is thanks to albums like this. Oh My God, Charlie Darwin takes Dylan's stoic harmonica and introduces it to the Eels knack for storytelling. They then layer that sound with a smattering of finger plucking before heading out to the barn with Tom Waits to jam until the sun rises.
This album has the uncanny ability to simultaneously recall an alt-folk hoedown and to allow for moments of restrained introspection. The Low Anthem hail from Rhode Island but their home is distinctly less Eastern-seaboard and more Mid-Western. The double indication lies in album closer `To Ohio (Reprise)' and second track `To Ohio', which start in Louisiana before heading North.
The gentle title track `Charlie Darwin' recalls a more melodic Band of Horses or a falsetto My Morning Jacket. This pretty voice comes on all the more gruffly for the stomping `Horizon Is A Beltway' and is positively growling for the moonshine-soaked square-dance that is `Home I'll Never Be'.
`Ticket Taker' is pure Everett of Eels fame and could well have come from their sparse and tragic Blinking Lights And Other Revelations album. It also witnesses use of the much-undervalued clarinet. `Champion Angel' sounds like an early Kings of Leon record, before they went all stadium: stately in its Southern flavour and liberal harmonica.
Certain tracks are a little plodding and in isolation would struggle to captivate the listener (Cage The Songbird), but serve The Low Anthem as a satisfying, if uneventful, canvas on which to paint the stronger numbers. `Omgcd' eventually brings the album full circle, ending it in gentle, nodding strumming. The handclap percussion only adds to the warm production.
Darwin amazed the world with his theory of evolution and whilst this titular homage (and pun) may not have quite the same profundity, I think he would have thought it nevertheless a rather handsome beast, a product of natural selection, having opted to take the best bits of its stellar peers and use them to their alt-folk, country-stained advantage.
This album has the uncanny ability to simultaneously recall an alt-folk hoedown and to allow for moments of restrained introspection. The Low Anthem hail from Rhode Island but their home is distinctly less Eastern-seaboard and more Mid-Western. The double indication lies in album closer `To Ohio (Reprise)' and second track `To Ohio', which start in Louisiana before heading North.
The gentle title track `Charlie Darwin' recalls a more melodic Band of Horses or a falsetto My Morning Jacket. This pretty voice comes on all the more gruffly for the stomping `Horizon Is A Beltway' and is positively growling for the moonshine-soaked square-dance that is `Home I'll Never Be'.
`Ticket Taker' is pure Everett of Eels fame and could well have come from their sparse and tragic Blinking Lights And Other Revelations album. It also witnesses use of the much-undervalued clarinet. `Champion Angel' sounds like an early Kings of Leon record, before they went all stadium: stately in its Southern flavour and liberal harmonica.
Certain tracks are a little plodding and in isolation would struggle to captivate the listener (Cage The Songbird), but serve The Low Anthem as a satisfying, if uneventful, canvas on which to paint the stronger numbers. `Omgcd' eventually brings the album full circle, ending it in gentle, nodding strumming. The handclap percussion only adds to the warm production.
Darwin amazed the world with his theory of evolution and whilst this titular homage (and pun) may not have quite the same profundity, I think he would have thought it nevertheless a rather handsome beast, a product of natural selection, having opted to take the best bits of its stellar peers and use them to their alt-folk, country-stained advantage.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic record
The slow and the bippety-boppety - and the openning track will squeeze tears of life affirmation from places you didn't even know still existed on that aching body of yours.
Published 2 months ago by Ken Byrne
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh My God, Charlie Darwin: The Low Anthem - Even better than `What the...
I came to this from a bit of an odd angle, and I am glad I did. Tom Jones recently covered the song Charlie Darwin from this album on his 2012 release `Spirit in the Room', and I... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Victor
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant American Folk
I have come to this late, at least three years after is was released. But I'm really glad I found it. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dan Mollett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding
I bought this album after hearing "Champion Angel" being played on a HMV store stereo during a particularly slow Sunday afternoon. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Owain Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars
SUBLIME
The Low Anthem produce outstanding songs.
Lyrically and musically sublime.
The vocal melodies,harmonies and diction are exquisite. Read more
Lyrically and musically sublime.
The vocal melodies,harmonies and diction are exquisite. Read more
Published 22 months ago by pete shields
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime Americana
From the opening track 'to Ohio' to the closing reprise this album oozes class, there are some strange bits as there always are with albums like these. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2010 by damo 563
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing
Really, really good! I was initially drawn to this album by the faster tracks like 'The Horizon is a Beltway' and 'Champion Angel' then the slower ones grabbed me. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2010 by Mr. A. J. Harper
5.0 out of 5 stars
On My God, Charlie Darwin
This is a really beautiful CD. I only came across Low Anthem recently, hearing it on a television programme as background music but I love it so much I intend collecting... Read more
Published on 28 May 2010 by Hazel Vicary
5.0 out of 5 stars
BUY THIS ALBUM
IF YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST IN MUSIC YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS ALBUM.THE ALBUM IS VARIED AND IF YOU LIKE THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS-UNKLE TUPELO,SPARKLEHORSE,WILL OLDHAM,MY MORNING JACKET,TOM... Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2010 by bob
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some wonderfull tracks.
I have to agree with another reviewer about the mixed success of the album. There are a couple of beautiful, interesting and original sounding tracks on the album. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2010 by Dan
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