Upbeat folk- and country-tinged rock tells a very dark tale
The pastoral title of Elliott Brood’s second album (originally release in Canada in 2008) is a head-fake, as is the upbeat tone of the folk- and country-tinged rock. The songwriting themes were inspired from the dark story of an 1857 massacre in which 120 men, women and children were slaughtered as they emigrated across Utah towards California. Songwriters Mark Sasso and Casey Laforet ponder not the deaths, but the lives of those who witnessed and survived the massacre, and rather gruesomely, the children who were adopted by the very Mormons who’d led the assault. Like their countrymen, The Sadies, Elliott Brood’s music is impossible to pin down to a single genre. In volume they’re a rock band, but in tone they augment their wall-of-sound guitars with nineteenth century elements of banjo and ukulele, and martial rhythms.
The trio creates music that’s often sparse, but still attacks with its dynamics. Hard-strummed acoustics, crashing cymbals and drum accents punctuate Mark Sasso’s impassioned, accusing vocals. Even when the music breaks down to ukulele and scavenged percussion, the background vocal exclamations continue to taunt. Sasso’s high, raspy voice will remind you of both Perry Farrell and Shannon Hoon, as he gives voice to travelers unsure they’ll survive the travails of the journey, angsty emigrants led uneasily away from their wagons, murderers haunted by misdeeds, and faint memories of the children left behind. Rather than a literal retelling of the massacre, the album is written as impressionistic fiction grown from the historical premise. This is a musically satisfying album, though you may wish the lyrics more transparently imagined the story from which their inspiration was drawn. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com] 