"I got a holy face now, I got a holy face..."
"Miracle" by Creekbed Carter Hogan (the solo project name of Bridget Brewer) and from the homespun Queergrass concept album "Good St Riddance" (2021) about the patron saint of trans people, is painted with ambient sounds and layers of vox while acoustic guitar rambles forward pushing the roots groove. Brewer's pretty, tender vocal aesthetic and self harmonies perfectly push an Americana 1920's / 30's roots, hillbilly, bluegrass aesthetic. The aforementioned ambience sounding like crickets with a subtle choral dinge of southern cicadas creates an atmosphere of past stories that envelope you. Other songs like the vast, amazing "His Great Burning Eye" and bubbling, circular "Ouroboros" hearken forward to 70's folk tempers with Brewer's beautiful lilt and melodies turning classically folk with toes dipped in garden rock pools, I somehow though of artists like Gillian Welch.
Most of the tracks open with the sound of water or woodsy ambience. "Crux" is no exception but again, Brewer shows a different shade on their vocals, the guitar work still pulling from porch blues had me thinking of Led Zeppelin and Thom Yorke at once and like the second track, "Invocation" there is an open approach that feels like more contemporary hard pushes of folk. It is hard to explain but suffice it to say, "Invocation" and the avant garde inside out folk twist of "Paraclete" sounds like today and yesterday at the same time and the chord falls and faint touches of half step dissonance is so artfully dense in a Joni Mitchell way.
The title track, "Good St Riddance" sparkles with a sense of morning awe after surviving a near death experience. I love the sound of hands sliding, squeaking on an acoustic neck and there is a lot of that on this instrumental track as well as nimble graceful emotional picking that sing their many storied melodies. Top shelf playing and an open soul makes for a wonderful listening experience.
Creekbed Carter Hogan's spirited, shape shifting album "Good St Riddance" is from start to finish an experience that makes you feel like a better human being for having listened to it. I am smitten and think you will be too.
-Robb Donker Curtius
* * *
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.creekbedcarter.com/
https://www.facebook.com/creekbedcarter
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5QE4Qoon6ohi5z6wDJ0u0t?si=hMbYBk8KRe6XH79v7wqOBQ&nd=1
https://www.instagram.com/creekbedcarter/
The music of Creekbed Carter Hogan sits at the vanguard of a new trans folk aesthetic where the intimate and the epic hold hands, whisper secrets, and trade playing cards with the devil. Raised Catholic in the Willamette Valley and hailing from the sewer creeks of Austin, TX, Bridget Brewer’s voice could burn a hole in your pocket as their fingers fly up and down the neck in the picking stylings of Charlie Parr and Adrianne Lenker. They may be better known as the co-frontperson of Milktoast Millie & the Scabby Knees, but it’s performing as Creekbed Carter Hogan that s/he displays their full dynamism as a writer and performer, artfully crafting an opportunity to engage in experimentation with memory, transformation, and raw edges. Whether s/he’s fronting a jangly, queergrass band of trans and queer folk musicians or appearing with only a guitar and a suitcase kickdrum, audiences find themselves spellbound by Brewer’s charm, vulnerability, and sheer talent. “All names are just proof you’re on somebody’s list,” s/he sings, ever the mournful blasphemer, their hand outstretched for your own.
No comments:
Post a Comment