Reviews
Artist:The Artisanals Album: Zia
Label: Rocksnob
Tracks: 9
Website: https://www.theArtisanals.net
While it's perfectly possible it comes from the Italian for aunt, I'd rather think the album title comes from the Arabic term for light, whatever it's the second from the South Carolina quartet comprising South Dakota frontman Johnny Delaware, guitarist Clay Houle, bassist Eric Mixon and keyboardist Ian Klin and, working with a heartland rock framework was recorded in REM's hometown of Athens with songs influenced by Delaware's experiences of the desert around Albuquerque and a theme of resurrection and cycles.
Nimbly fingerpicked with a waterfall of acoustic notes and slide, 'Fear To Fail' cautions against letting fear put a halt to your ambitions, the theme of resetting your life coming on the back of the organ intro to the otherwise Byrdsian jangly 'Heading Somewhere' and moving on to the solid drum beat driving 'Always Taken Care Of' with its cascading pedal steel and mingled echoes of Petty and The Jayhawks providing an early highlight.
Another on theme of reinventing or resurrecting yourself to achieve your objectives, 'Way Up' nods to 'Women Who Run With Wolves' by Jungian analyst and author Clarissa Pinkola Estés, the scuffed percussive intro and bass pulse giving way to a chiming guitar and fractured drum beats as Delaware taps into a vein of positivity singing "I'm going up, and this time I'm never going down". Taking a more atmospheric approach with processed vocals, keyboard eddies and psychedelic guitar work, 'Driftwood' is the trippiest - and at near seven minutes - longest track before, while still infused with a desert hallucinogenic vibe, things return to a shuffling rhythm with the falsetto backing vocals and twangy guitar of 'Plant The Seed'.
Back to strummed acoustic and a shuffling rhythm, 'The Road' speaks of a sense of freedom ("we're taking this road wherever it rolls, wherever it goes it's a long way from trouble"), fading away to the equally optimism fuelled tumbling notes of the chest-swelling, keyboards swirling 'Violet Light' before ending on a more laid back but still widescreen feel with the rolling guitar rhythm, echoey vocals and pedal steel of 'She Is Looking For An Answer'.
Artisanal derives from artisan and means pertaining to a high-quality or distinctive product made in small quantities, usually using traditional methods which may be in danger of being lost. In a world where music is often increasingly homogenised, these boys are keeping the craft very much alive.
Mike Davies
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