Labels: Minority
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This is such a nice record, and such a surprise too. I guess not many people will know Michael Nace by name (and I am sure he won’t mind me saying that), I certainly didn’t when this record dropped onto my doormat. This is Michael Nace who was in a really cool math-something band called Drill for Absentee, and he is not to be confused with Michael Nace or Michael Nace or even Michael Nace, who came 2nd in the 11-12 yr old 165lb division of the Oregon Classic Youth Wrestling tournament, 1994. At least, I guess it’s not the same Michael Nace. You never know.
How to describe? That is pretty much beyond my meagre music knowledge. I am afraid I have little ability to tell you who the leading lights of the indie / folk type scene are. There’s what, Ida? And maybe some others, but yeah, I don’t know. And Michael does things a lot differently to Ida for the most part. He has a really warm, effective voice that envelopes the whole thing, pulling it a long. I once remarked to young Chris Thrash that the guy from Current 93 should release an LP where he narrates the Lord of the Rings. Whilst Nace has nowhere near an eerie voice as that guy (nor Chris Thrash even), I think he’d do a good job of narrating the Hobbit. Musically it’s melodic and often centres around acoustic guitar and Michael’s singing, but brings in some orchestral sounds on “Perfect Place”, which is a super atmospheric track. Indeed, atmosphere is something this record oozes. Elsewhere you’ll get piano, or synths, or mandolin.
Well, as I said earlier, I don’t have nearly enough of a clue to know where to start with reviewing this CD, all I can say is that I really like it and am glad I got sent it for review! Nice one.