Or, The Whale – Light Poles and Pines

'Call and Response' is a storming opening to this album, as appropriate for a lament on exposed social inequality in the wake of hurricane Katrina, and the debut from this Californian Americana seven-piece maintains a self-assured confidence in performance and quality of tune throughout. They have enough members and buckets of twang to get the hoe-down started amongst themselves and for several tracks you'll be sorely tempted to join in. With two female members, four lead vocalists and everyone else hollering/harmonising as backup when necessary, there's plenty of variety of vocal delivery, ranging from a Drive By Truckers growl to Gram Parsons plaintive tear jerking. Never as heavy as DBT, their collective performance does bear reference to Whiskeytown, The Band (though inexplicably for an Americana fan, I have always found them particularly tedious apart from a couple of classics), and 'Death of Me' is pure Flying Burrito Brothers. My wobbly drunk honky-tonking favourite that one. Even the Soggy Bottom Boys get a shout out with 'Prayer For The Road' (or does anyone remember the Boothill Foot Tappers?).But if half the tracks are upbeat and easygoing, 'Fixin' To Leave' is even borderline poppy, then there are songs of solitude and loss too, just as well executed, with anthemic choruses ('Life and Death at Sea', 'Fight Song') and male/female duets ('Isn't She Awful'). It wouldn't be proper Americana without alcohol, strained heartstrings, or a banjo, a mandolin, a bit of Cajun accordion ('Threads'), some gospel ('Bound to Go Home') and nice pedal steel work throughout from Tim Marcus - hovering in complimentary fashion around the edges without show-boating.The album was recorded in two days with hardly any overdubbing, so you might notice some minor slipups, but that's a plus when the overall atmosphere is of a bunch of friends live on the front porch. Vocalist/guitarist Matt Sartain maintains that "It's those little imperfections, which give it a real, honest feel". Their bonding is all the more impressive given that Or, The Whale only formed a couple of years ago, with CVs listing experiences ranging from punk and funk to chamber music; half had never met before answering a local ad. Quite what their rural/southern credentials are I have no idea - they may all be LA metrosexuals for all I know, but it certainly sounds right.In one sense you may have heard these slightly nostalgic offerings all before, but it's done very well indeed, well enough to be fresh and worthwhile to this listener. And I usually have an aversion to bands whose names contain punctuation. For the record, it's the subtitle of the novel Moby Dick. This album is a mixture of roots country stylings that (another) vocalist/guitarist Alex Robins has described as "a big, delicious stew". That's comfort food in my book. Please sir, can I have some more? 81%Links Or, The Whale [official site] [myspace]