Micah P. Hinson & the Red Empire Orchestra
For once I am going to disagree with the exiled Scottish miscreant Tim, who writes the Daily Growl. It’s going to sound a bit like having an argument over which Celine Dion song is the worst, and I suppose it is, but he reckons that Gospel of Progress was better than Opera Circuit and that Mr. Hinson is now back to his best. I, on the other hand, reckon that Opera Circuit was marginally better (and by better I mean the level of goosebumps that it inspired, nothing objective, obviously) than Gospel of Progress. I loved the tortured howl of Opera Circuit, all the more so after seeing it performed live and witnessing the twisted, tortuous delivery, like a man possessed. So as you can see, Tim and I have clearly fallen out irrevocably.
My take on Red Empire Orchestra is that is the slightest of slips from the giddy heights of its predecessors. It’s steadier, less furious and tortured, and often more simply beautiful that either of them, and this is probably why I like it slightly less. One thing is for sure though, Micah P. Hinson is perhaps the most emotionally gripping singer or songwriter out there at the moment. You never, ever hear a word he sings without thinking that he means every last ounce of it.
Melodically, this album has a sort of rich beauty that is a marked change from the desolation of his first and the rage of his second. It’s more settled, I think. His banjo led, string smothered Americana presumably started with some sort of dusty crossover of folk, blues and country, but it is now entirely Micah’s own. He has a taste for borderline-classical string arrangements as well, with this album’s I Keep Having These Dreams an almost direct analogue of Little Boy’s Dream from the previous one.
Anyway, whatever, I’m rambling. This is a lovely album. Buy it.
Micah P. Hinson – Tell Me it Ain’t So
Micah P. Hinson – Throw the Stone
