Here’s a CD that’s about as unique as it gets. North Carolina’s MarsupiaL prove to be impossible to classify on their latest release Genus Thylacinus, a fascinating collection of songs that contain elements of prog, Southern Rock, jam band improvisation, rock, and jazz. The four piece certainly can play their instruments, in fact, Ian Reardon (guitars/vocals), Forrest Smith (guitars/pedal steel), Brad Mehder (bass), and Chris Carter (drums/vocals/guitars) show plenty of virtuoso moments throughout Genus Thylacinus, but most importantly these eight songs are all catchy and memorable, sure to get you humming and tapping your toes as well as stimulating your need for driving, instrumentally challenging music.
Opening cut “Lead On” is a near 9-minute tour de force of jam-band excitement and pop hooks, catchy melodies and soaring guitar harmonies flying all over the mix, and it’s followed up by the tasty Allman Brothers Band meets Lynyrd Skynyrd slab o’ Southern Rock that is “The Man Who Knows Things”, complete with some stunning slide guitar work. “Naked In the Hall of Seduction” is a bizarre but enjoyable two headed monster, kicking off as a rootsy rock song but then morphing into a spacey prog rock number with spooky electronic effects, jazzy guitar passages, and tricky drum fills. On “In Between”, the band goes for a Grateful Dead/Phish vibe, and dive into a sort of trippy, psychedelic Southern Rock state of mind on “The Tide”, somewhere between the Allmans, Marshall Tucker Band, and the Buffalo Springfield. Check out the killer finale on this one, as after four minutes of laid back strumming the band crashes the mix with thunderous guitar riffs, stinging lead solos, and pounding drum beats. The rootsy, Southern drawl of “The Goodbye Waltz” delivers the CDs one true ballad, and it’s a good one, complete with passionate vocals, and a nice mix of acoustic and electric guitars. MarsupiaL do their best to create some noisy garage rock with “Sucker Punch” (Neil Young’s Live Rust anyone?), a real raucous number featuring some behemoth, distorted guitar riffs that border on the stoner/doom metal scene, and the album ends with the lush acoustic piece “There Is a Better World”.
Again, ultimately this one’s real hard to classify, but the end result is just a satisfying rock album from a bunch of Southern dudes that manages to push many buttons and works on every level. This is a band to watch out for.
Track Listing
1. Lead On
2. The Man Who Knows Things
3. Naked in the Hall of Seduction
4. In Between
5. The Tide
6. The Goodbye Waltz
7. Sucker Punch
8. There Is a Better World
Ian Reardon (g, voc), Forrest Smith (g), Brad Mehder (b) and Chris Carter (dr, voc) come from Asheville, North Carolina, USA. The capital L at the end of MarsupiaL is not the only extravagance that the band allows itself. Although the songs are not, as the press release announces, the brightest star in the Prog sky — the mix of jam- and jazz-rock has too few links to Prog and Psychedelic for it to be offered as Progressive Rock — the instrumental expanded song landscape nevertheless creates a proper mood and maintains it on a high level.
The quartet composes emotionally dense arrangements that are not especially complex, and allow extended guitar solos and duets to thrive in the virtuoso center. The harmony vocals of the two singers — two voices intone the choruses — sound, if I may say so, a little “risky” here and there. It seems that the music’s own harmonic language fades a bit. The verses have broad conceptual simplicity; the song creates the partial impression of late seventies Wishbone Ash playing (after their big time) in search of inspiration from earlier. Here and there are wide country-folk touches, on the CSN-chorus songs with spicy Lynyrd Skynyrd guitars racing around (without coming really close to the high-intensity names mentioned).
No question, the songs are appealing compositions; have character and make an impression; are engaging and strongly expressive. Prog(ressive Rock), however, it is not. A great American rock band with folk and jazz in their roots, which understands the intensely tuneful reflective harmonic beauty of long expansive songs.
MarsupiaL (avec un L majuscule à la fin!) est un groupe américain originaire de Asheville en Caroline du Nord. Ses musiciens se sont rencontrés à la fin de l’année 2000 alors qu’ils étaient à l’Appalachian State University. C’est après leurs études qu’ils se sont installés à Asheville. Le groupe est influencé par les jam bands tel Umphrey’s McGee.
Mais leurs influences ne s’arrêtent pas là. Rien que l’écoute de “Lead On” nous rappelle étrangement un certain Nirvana. C’est très frappant pendant les parties chantées. Ensuite on trouve dans leur musique des parties plus jazz-rock, Zappa et King Crimson ne sont pas loin. Ils travaillent aussi les parties vocales, deux des quatre chantent.
MarsupiaL mélange les genres. Cela va du jazz-rock au rock progressif en passant par des moments tout simplement rock. Les tons sont bien américains. Certains espaces leur permettent de développer des improvisations. Elles sont parfois énergiques, et à d’autres moments planantes, presque psychédéliques. Pink Floyd n’est alors pas bien loin, mais pas celui de Barrett, plutôt celui de Waters. Dans tout cela, ils ont malgré tout réussi à glisser une chanson plus facile, “In Between”, qui ferait un bon single. La ballade “The Goodbye Waltz” conviendrait tout aussi bien. Mais, pas de doutes, c’est quand ils se montrent plus sophistiqués, plus tortueux, plus exubérants qu’on les aime, ou alors dans le fabuleux “Sucker Punch” très Zeppelinien.
Si le groupe est peu connu par ici, chez eux, en Caroline du Nord, ils ont acquis une bonne notoriété. Leur premier album “Dancing About Architecture” est sorti en 2004. Ensuite, il y a eu “Moby Fleck” en 2006, un concept album qui est entré dans le Top 20 régional, et “Curtains” en 2007. Cet opus est donc déjà leur quatrième. Il était donc temps de les découvrir. A votre tour !
Jean-Pierre Lhoir
Pays: US
Marsupial Music 884501111430
Sortie: 2009/03/24
“Genus Thylancinus is probably one of the best all-around listens I’ve had in several months. I like each song for completely different reasons, and that almost never happens.”
