Eye Witness - A Pleasant Tomorrow

God damn hippies makin me feel feelings again.

Folk is a pretty troubling genre. Folk music originally referred to any kind of traditional “music of the people,” though initially in the Anglo-Sphere, as defined against forigen musical types. For instance someone from Wessex in England might claim to enjoy folk music but not enjoy traditional Irish music, and loath anything made by the Belgians. In the United States and Britain the genre was defined by early anthropological studies that gathered traditional music into songbooks, often as part of a political agenda. In Britain much of the footwork of folk music was done by various nationalists seeking to define the national image. In the United States much of the initial wave of gathering was done by religious revivalists and agrarian socialists, often the same people, who, much like their British counterparts, were trying to claim the national consciousness of the common man for their cause.

Inevitably the form folk took was heavily influenced by the areas where the gathering took place. In the United States the first classic texts on the subject were gathered in the south and in Appalachia, resulting in a southern focus in much traditional music that persists to this day. In Britain much of the early groundwork was done in the north country, around Manchester and along the Scottish border, which has lent subsequent British folk a celtic twinge that may of may not be justified by the hegemonic nature of London in British culture almost since time immemorial

This persistence was aided by the mass media. Much of the initial efforts at folk preservation were undertaken as a result of fears of the extinction of traditional music in the face of the encroaching influence of radio. Once folk songbooks became available and gained in popularity, radio began playing folk music that people in the countryside were suddenly being told was their own, whether or not they were from Appalachia or the North Country.

So that is all a post modern nightmare of Lovecraftian proportions. This state of do-good liberals drawing influence from ’traditional” music and playing it for “traditional” people who reflect that influence back on liberals, confirming their own beliefs, reached a boiling point in the 60s when a massive explosion of “traditional’ music occurred in that great breadbasket of traditional American values and harmonies, Greenwich Village, Manhattan. And so it is that many of the biggest names in modern folk music were NYU students. God Dammnit. I am not drunk enough.

This is not my problem with most folk music. I have learned over the years that my quest for authenticity is ultimately futile and doomed to despair. My problem with most folk music is that it is too slow and boring and grating and there are no hooks and it is either full of meaningless groupthink or else it is about fucking fairies. And I don’t mean gay people, I like gay people in music, I mean fucking Tinkerbelle fucking fairies in nature fucking fairies. God DAMN do fairies make me angry.

The exceptions, however, are pretty awesome. If I may name drop Billy Bragg, for example, and of course the Guthries, Arlo and Penis, were pretty awesome. And we cannot stop there because in many ways Folk was punk before punk. In the same way Punk seems to have spawned every genre since 1977, Folk spawned  bluegrass, country, roots, zeidico, ragtime, and thus jazz and blues and rock itself. And as the folk concept spread it began to jump borders, creating new folk traditions in each region and nation, until it eventually created world music and then we are back to sucking and god, where is the bartender.

Ok but seriously, they would take away my indie kid card if I didn’t say that I honestly think that there are awesome acts in each of these genre. Including world music. I can say that honestly. Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros is nothing if not world music a I will fight you if you don’t agree that that was some of Joe Strummer’s finest work. Bottom line, when folk music mixes diverse influences with energy, passion, and authenticity, the result can be sublime. If they do it because it got them laid in college, you get Yanni, and then I go back in time and beat your mother until she is sterile. THAT IS WHAT YOU DESERVE WHEN YOU CREATE YANNI. If, in the comments, the words 'river' and 'dance' come togethr, i will find a way to unmake reality. you are warned.

Eye Witness, I am very happy to say, are not Yanni, and so I do not have to sterilize anyone’s mothers. As with the best of their genre they blend influences seamlessly and richly, like a mousse. Bear with me. As in mousse, the various elements are blended, nay, folded, with a broad spatula, such that they are inextricably intermingled without damaging the delicate foam of their origins. Eh? nice. And then there’s the politics.

Some Punk Rocker once said something like “GRR! ANYONE CAN WRITE A POLITICAL SONG! GRRR!” then he gnashed his teeth a lot and tried to cover up his sexual inadequacies by screaming a bit and trying to start a fight. Anyway I never understood that attitude. Politics are a key force in music because politics are a key part of everyday life. We may not like it, we may just want to be left alone, but the decisions made at the political level will affect our lives, and that has always been the case. Contrary to what mystery punx said, it is really difficult to write a political song that comes off as confident and strong without relying on cliché and groupspeak that can undermine the authenticity of the message. Many punks avoid this conundrum by avoiding a single stand and just attacking everyone. This is my only major criticism of The Pogues, for example, and I feel they are at their best when they do take a stand. For example in the hedonist anthem “Sunnyside of the Street.” As I mentioned in a previous review, Black 47 may not have aged as well as the Pogues musically, but I keep coming back to them because their political songwriting is superb. In this regard, Eye Witness combines the musical coherence and immediacy of the Pogues with the politically solid and powerful writing of Black 47. Except in American Folk instead of Irish. Although the first two songs on the album are super Irish. And Milo, the lead singer, does look, you know, very much like a Leprechaun. But lets chalk that up to the Scotts Irish influence in Appalachian music and move on.

So I seriously love this band. Their music is rich and textured, but is highly energetic and chock full of pop hooks. Seriously, each song on this album is an ear worm. Ive been getting each of them stuck in my head in turn, though you can forgive a recovering irish Music snob for a particular addiction to “Which Side Are You On?,” a good ole union song. Makes me want to make like me own granddaddy and  go found a credit union or something similarly progressive.

Anyway, these guys rule, despite being from a genre who’s provenance makes me want to pee blood