Hear It First at Folk Alley – Poor Old Shine
HEAR IT FIRST: Poor Old Shine – ‘Poor Old Shine’
*audio for this feature in no longer available*
By now, it’s almost a cliché that New England is a hotbed of great, outside-the-box roots music. What’s more, so much of it has been pouring from the discriminating taste-makers at Signature Sounds these past few years. They’re the label that’s brought us everyone from Eilen Jewell to Joy Kills Sorrow and Lake Street Dive. Now, they’re readying a self-titled debut from Connecticut-based Poor Old Shine, due Nov. 5.
Produced by sharp-eared songwriter/instrumentalist extraordinaire Sam Kassirer, Poor Old Shine introduces some of the most jubilant and danceable indie roots music this side of the Carolinas. That’s not terribly surprising, considering the band counts the Avett Brothers among its many influences. Indeed, the Avetts’ stomping-and-cavorting energy tumbles along, through this disc, without ever bumping up against imitation. Another cited influence is the great Pete Seeger, whose simple-is-better approach to songwriting is clearly taken under fierce consideration here, as well.
Indeed, Poor Old Shine straddle the influence of new and old throughout the disc, jumping and harmonizing through early highlights like “Footsteps in My Ears” (almost like Sunny Day Real Estate meets Mumford & Sons). But they can just as well deliver quiet, well-considered respite in songs like “Ghost Next Door” or romantic proclamations in songs like “Love Song” (“I’ve been dreaming of you all night long / but no word my heart sings does justice to these things / and it’s hard to write a love song.”)
You could tip a hat to Kassirer’s off-the-beaten-path Maine studio for so much of the simple, rural energy on this disc, but there’s a certain point where that can’t be fabricated, even by the most inspiring surroundings. At some point, the raw grit just has to be in the band’s bones. Lucky for Poor Old Shine, that seems to be the case.
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