Withered Hand – You Are Not Alone
I think it’s fair to say that 2009 has been Dan Willson’s year, in a musical sense. He’s gone from being one of Edinburgh’s most respected songwriters to the leader of a band on the verge of genuinely widespread and richly deserved recognition.
I am likely to repeat this analysis come the time of his album release in September of this year, but I find myself smiling sometimes at just how little actual innovation seems to take place with the actual music and arrangement of Withered Hand’s music. It’s all quite basic and straightforward, with his acoustic guitar supplemented here by bits of piano, percussion and accordion and some backing vocals from King Creosote, who recorded and produced this little gem.
Basically though, Withered Hand are a great band because Dan is a truly special, special songwriter. His fundamental knack for a melody is uncanny, and his lyrics are superb. His songs of self-doubt and insecurity are just a shade too humorous and clever to actually be self-pitying. And yet they’re always too heartfelt and believably real to be anything other than genuinely affecting.
No Cigarettes is a boody masterpiece, frankly, and Oldsmobile Car is the latest incarnation of a brilliant song written with Dan’s Bear Scotland pals Cammy Watt and Neil Pennycook, which has previously seen the light of day as the demo Shooby Shooby and also as Red Candle Bulb on the recent Meursault EP. It’s nice to see the main songwriter himself give us his own interpretation, and the quavering backing vocals of Mr. Anderson are perfectly suited to the deer-in-headlights nature of the words.
Big Ten Four sounds uncannily like Neil Young, funnily enough, but in preceding the lovely Are You Courageous, perhaps slows things down a little too much for my taste it almost puts the brakes on two blocks before the corner, but that’s about the only criticism I have to offer: a minor quibble about sequencing. Otherwise, this is fucking brilliant.
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This sounds a little like Meursault…
Really? i don’t see that at all.
Couldn’t agree more. Can’t think of a better lyricist righght now
This EP is really bloody ace. I’d love to be able to write lyrics that make your heart bleed whilst making you giggle. It’s also really nice to hear shooby shooby / oldsmobile car / red candle bulb in so many different ways. I really can’t wait for the album.
No Cigarettes is one of the best things ever in the whole universe.
You are not wrong.
I don’t really hear the Mersault thing, but I certainly hear bloody good.
No, there is no Meursault thing. That is a private joke between Dylan and DC from Homegame. Ignore them. DC will be dead soon anyway, he has something infectious.
ooooh ooohhh, I REALLY REALLY love this. It’s that great thing where you don’t necessarily want to turn it up really loud, you just want to get closer to the speakers. Having said that, I think I will try it really loud on my new (secondhand Mission 770 Freedom) speakers on Sunday afternoon (neighbours go off on holiday…hurrah!) just to see what it’s like.
Yeah, Dan is one of the few musicians I don’t really feel any great need to turn up loud either, and it had never occurred to me until you said that. Wonder why it is.
Trolling now, but why no Blue Roses review? Everyone else is doing it.
(I want some free mp3′s. *shuffles feet in a vaguely guilty manner*)
this just sounds like it has kramer written all over it…
will be quite interested to listen to it on the wee earphones as well. Don’t know about you, but there are a few artists (or sometimes just songs, like Nick Cave’s “Babe You Turn Me On”) that only sound at their best, to me, on the wee ipod earphones….actually that could just be me, I do travel on the train quite a lot so spend a lot of time plugged in…….
MartinMoog wins thread.
Paulene, you know, for all my prattling on about music and all that, I am not much of an audiophile in terms of appreciating high fidelity and so on.
Apart from being able to turn things up really fucking loud when I want to, I am generally not all that fussed.
Voldermania – Blue Roses? Barely even heard the name, but I’ll dig it out for you if you fancy.
Volder, … see my comments under the Black Golden Bull post and have a giggle with me, hehehe xx
>I am likely to repeat this analysis come the time of his album release in September of this year
So, is You Are Not Alone, not the album?
Oo, just read “11 Jun 2009, 3:08pm
Scottish Bands Single & EP Reviews: bear scotland king creosote withered hand”
So, this is an E.P. is it?
I could do with some kind of Withered Hand discography!
Four tracks on this one, and four tracks on the Religious Songs EP. A full album has been recorded and will be released on SL Records sometime in (I think) September.
Thank you very much.
SL Records, eh? I like ‘em. Ballboy, The Starlets.
I have a track called ‘Cornflake’ in my library. I would guess I’ve downloaded it from these good pages, but it is just a guess. What was that released on?
Previously only available as a demo, but it will be on the new album. Outstanding song.
know what you mean about high fidelity….volume was all I needed until my lovely chum gave me these Mission speakers and christ on bike they are GOOD……and loud.
x
has anyone listened to no cigarettes and then angeles by elliot smith straight after? try it, try it now.
going to right now
holy moly
I hear no similarities, if that’s what you’re saying, but I was listening to a pretty poor live recording as that’s all I could find. I’ll try and sort that out asap.
my holy moly was more to do with that i hadn’t heard Either/Or in such a long time…..and it’s fucking awesome!!!!
but there is a lot of common ground between WH and ES
oldsmobile references seem to be another crossover (i can’t think of any songs that mention oldsmobiles except condor ave and shooby)
You know, I barely know a thing about Elliot Smith. It’s ridiculous, but true – shame on me. Where should I start?
Either/Or is a great place to start
either/or was the first ‘smith’ album i bought, when i ws about18 and it’s still one of my favourite albums ever. no one should be without this record.
the guy didn,t record a mediocre album let alone a bad one….you can’t o wrong toad…but start with either/or or the self titled one which is also gorgeous.
I can play No Cigarettes on the guitar now!
Woo!
I rule.
you don’t know elliott smith?!?!! one of my favourite artists ever! its XO for me but either/or a close second and everything else just great too.
Christ. First Jesus & Mary Chain and now Elliott Smith? Get with the program, boy. I agree that you can’t go wrong picking any Elliott Smith record. All brilliant.
im astonished!
i actually started off with ‘elliott smith’ then ‘either or’ and i think my favourite albums of his tend to go in the same direction. this seems to be the case with a lot of artists. i wonder if its something to do with the magic of the discovery and of hearing a new sound for the first time.
So cornflake is going to be on the new album?
I really can’t wait for it! Are you aware of any of the other tracks that’ll be on it, one that he’s played a lot live that stands out is “Not for Glory” (a song title inferred from the chorus), would love to hear a studio version.