There are few things that excite me quite as much as when cliches collide to produce something gorgeously original. Imagine my cynicism when I first found out that Damion Suomi?s latest effort would draw from both folk-rock/bluegrass music as well as the Bible?both sources that have been bled dry in recent years. Yet the end product produced by Suomi (pronounced like a legal show cliche) and his aptly-named band, The Minor Prophets, is one of the best records I?ve heard this year!
Certainly it?s one that rises head and shoulders above the competition in the wasted badlands of boring folk-rock. On his latest effort, Go, And Sell All Your Things, Damion Suomi dips his pen into the rich well of poetry and history that is the Bible. It comes out dripping with stark, startlingly mystic imagery; most impressively, Suomi avoids falling into moralistic preaching. Instead the record takes the form of a pseudo-concept album of drinking songs, vaguely tracing the Hero?s Journey as laid out by Joseph Campbell.
It starts off with The Call: in a voice that sounds suspiciously like REM?s Michael Stipe, Suomi dramatically intones a call to destiny, all the while warning the hero of temptation in threes and hunger pains. We proceed to a track that ponders the dilemna of God and wealth as a rich man strikes a bargain with God to get the camel through the eye: : ?I?ll cut you ten percent/Soon I?ll be heaven sent?. (Kong Hee, Joseph Prince, are you listening?)
The rest of the journey plays like an epic, time-travelling trip on which familiar names occasionally cameo: King Solomon, he of wise mind and foolish heart, pops up on The Teacher to offer some sagely advice to our hero (which of course reminds this avid U2 fan of Johnny Cash?s appearance on The Wanderer, off the 1993 album Zooropa). Elsewhere cowards, murderers and horny rockstar kings make their appearances as we say hi to Jonah, Moses and David.
Despite the parables and philosophizing on tracks like Mustard Seed (single-worthy catchy!) and Pearls (Before The Swine), Suomi grounds the record in humour and humanity. By setting his lyrics in drinking songs against a bed of rustic mandolins and accordions, Suomi manages to make even blasphemy against the Spirit of God indelibly catchy. Just try getting the stirring refrain of ?There is no Holy Ghost/there is no Holy Ghost inside of me? out of your mind!
It?s a windswept desert landscape that The Minor Prophets create here with their rambunctious mix of Americana and Celtic instrumentation, one so evocative it might leave you thirsting for a drink of water?or beer. The Dylan comparisons will be inevitable, but do Suomi a service and take this record on its own gorgeous merits without once thinking of Fleet Foxes or Mumford and Sons. An intoxicating blend of spirits both alcoholic and divine, you?ll find yourself singing along to these drinking songs of ascent.
(Samuel C Wee)
Official Site
Source: http://www.powerofpop.com/?p=8707
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