Around 20 years, there were two bands I heard about via music magazine sampler CDs and whose work I started to follow and by one route or another acquire their music as it was released. One was the Decemberists and the other the Felice Brothers. Both were very distinctive musical styles and lyrics that made them not really like anyone else. Colin Meloy from the Decemberists sounded as if he had swallowed a thesaurus from the extensive and arcane vocabulary appearing in his songs, which also had unusual subject matter, songs about pirates, people being swallowed by whales and the like. Ian Felice used a lot of quirky wordplay, a bit Dylanesque but more playful. Both had a penchant for story songs.
As I no longer kept abreast of the charts or any other measures of popularity I never really knew which of the two was the more commercially successful. If anything the Decemberists seemed more likely to be the niche act and the Felice Brothers stronger candidates for mainstream success.
So I was surprised when seeing the latter at Islington Assembly Hall a couple of years back that they said this was a relatively large venue for them, and they normally play bars. The Decemberists by contrast have had hit records and perform at much bigger venues.
So this is leading to saying The Felice Brothers really do deserve to be better known. While they released a couple of fine albums early in their career, Tonight at the Arizona and a 2008 self-titled one, subsequent releases have been more inconsistent with occasional style changes that didn't quite work. But their 2022 record From Dreams To Dust is I believe truly outstanding album which I would encourage anyone who likes music in the broadly Dylanesque style to listen to. It ought to be regarded as a classic,
This year's long player, Valley Of Abandoned Songs is a more low key offering. As the title suggests it is a collection of songs that didn't quite fit on other albums, although I think all have been recorded afresh. But this is by no means an album of B-sides and rejects.
Crime Scene Queen is the opening track, a pretty good representation of what the Felice Brothers do. The addition of bassist and backing vocalist Jesske Hume a few years ago has brought another dimension to their music. This is also my top song that has actually been released in 2024.
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