After having the joy of reviewing Brown Horse’s Reservoir (somehow) only last year (time flies!), I had a small inkling that it would herald a greater thrum of country and alt-country springing up all over the place. Especially after all the traditional stuff Stateside, while always huge, was blown wide open by one of the planet’s champion megastars, and its experimental indie-tinged little brother has become the sounds of places like the Carolinas or Pennsylvania. But neither’s made the pond-leap all that much. Weird! Still, it marks out Norwich’s premier folk-tinged troupe a singular kind of being—very much the “slacker twang” they’re ferrying.
The six-piece do wear their love for the stalwart acts on their sleeve. Reservoir opined about Jimmy Rodgers, and so named a track for the sad passing of Paul Gilley. All The Right Weaknesses either consciously or not references the Man In Black on Tombland too. But there’s also far more of a lean into newer aural guises too that adds to the country fried sound, including forays attuned to the alt-country realm. You could image this Norfolk lot out on the broads telling tales of Black Shuck, or smiling sarcastically through performances in dingy city pub basements all the same.
And that feeling is particularly apt on their sophore; their more dialled in-ness, an image deftly carved from continual time of the road together in strange lands and circumstances, the Far Off Places, so much so they exceeded the first record’s four-day recording to, well, only a week. Interestingly, like the UK’s leading art-rock acts Black Country, New Road or Caroline, Brown Horse’s larger scale and dextrous instrument-swapping shows extreme confidence rather than a cobble-pot of too many ideas. Each vignette stands alone, and part of a greater whole. Just like the cosy patchwork quilt of its cover art.
Speaking of, Corduroy Couch grounds a lot of their sound-basis and ideas lyrically. It’s a more straightforward footstomper, breathing time for toothpick-twiddling lead guitar licks, repeating the theme of things not being built to last as on jugband-on-weed cut Wisteria Vine. The genre staples across the initial tracks are evident, but opener Verna Bloom also features slinky, darting basslines working under the slide guitar. It taps its toes a little before exploding into ‘90s alt-rock. Something similar happens on Dog Rose whose circling riff feels hypnotically clockwork-like before the cycle gets intruded by the group emerging more cacophonous and noisy. There’s plenty of tiny moments that spark out from when the instruments lean into casual poses, and the full package-in-one-hit with the full group going for the pedal whenever so inclined—a feeling that their live recording creates.
Elsewhere, the REM-referencing Radio Free Bolinas has a fantastically morose post-punk bassline nearly perked up by violins that, fittingly, sound buzzsaw-ish and lead to a satisfactory culmination. Holy Smokes however takes you to the barnyard, or for Gavin And Stacey fans, a village hall on Barry Island; its dual vocals beg for a crowd to belt out its entirety while line-dancing to the instrumentals. And believing fully in their slacker-rock twinged country, the title track has the largest wink to that MJ Lenderman style, down to its punny title, and merging or hilarity and sadness: “business doing pleasure with you”.
Overall, Brown Horse is wearing its guise of UK’s premier country jamboree band well, but without the awful cosplay you’d expect. Even playing less fast and loose as their debut, the expanded outfit have managed to experiment with broader influences from the road and come across more clinical for it. That’s not simple in the right hands. Then again, with multi-instrumental talents all amongst this lot, perhaps it is.
For fans of: Songs: Ohia, Merce Lemon, The Slow Country
‘All The Right Weaknesses’ by Brown Horse is released on 4th April on Loose Music.
Words by Elliot Burr
