Black Golden Bull – Black Golden Bull
You know, I can almost hear The Eagles in some of this. It’s described as cowboy folk on their website, and that’s pretty accurate, but there’s a definite West Coast sunset cocktail ambiance in evidence as well.
There are reverby guitars in the backgound, some ghostly harmonies, a little saw, all the usual things you’d expect from the kind of music I go for. It sits in fairly typical Toad territory in general, actually, with classic, old-fashioned storytelling, and an engaging combination of folk and Western musical leanings. I suppose that if you drew a line from the Fleet Foxes in the North to the likes of the criminally underrated Richmond Fontaine in the South, Black Golden Bull would sit somewhere vaguely inbetween.
Given I listen to most of my new music at work, I have to confess to having found this a little tricky to concentrate on at times. It’s not an album which aggressively demands your attention, more one which welcomes you with a nod when you find you have some to give.  I like that kind of music, though. Music which isn’t trying too hard, which seems to trundle along happily with a confident sense of having nothing to prove, and music, I’d say, which brooks little analysis. It simply does its job, does it well, and lets everyone else get on with the business of taking life too seriously.
Black Golden Bull – Buffalo Waltz
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Black Golden Bull – One Tiny Spark
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