Rani Arbo &
Daisy Mayhem
Violets are Blue
(Signature Sounds)
Rani Arbo’s gorgeous “Sweet and Bitter” is a heartbreakingly lovely composition about love tinged with uncertainty. It’s the final track of daisy mayhem’s new album, Violets are Blue, but it could serve as the theme song. The album title is clever wordplay; most of the selections touch upon affairs the heart, but as bass player Andrew Kinsey correctly notes, they are “sugar-free love songs.”
This is a mature work from the Valley’s favorite string band — one marked by superb musicianship, tight harmonies, solid rhythms, and grown-up takes on life. It’s also an “Americana” album in the best sense: a tribute to how the waters from the streams of American music combine to make a mighty river.
It opens with “Heart of the World,” with just Arbo’s vocals and Scott Kessel’s percussion setting the table before other instruments appear. Don’t expect predictable rhythms. Kessel retrieves the junk you might throw away and adds it to his ever-evolving collection of things upon which to bang. The band follows with an Appalachian-influenced song (“Down by the Water”), a bit of country folk (“Keep it in Mind”), and the hard-driving “Around the Wheel,” with especially crisp work from Kinsey and fretmeister Anand Nayak. Still to come is music with a mountain feel (“You Should See Me Now”), the Cajun-flavored “Swing Me Down”, a splash of honky-tonk (“Over and Over”), torchy blues (“I’m Satisfied with You”), and a cover of May Erlewine’s “I Love this City” that reminds us that folks from the Delta created the Motown sound. Like acoustic folk? Check out Arbo’s “Piece of Land” and “Sweet and Bitter.”
It’s hard to imagine that daisy mayhem has been on the road for 15 years now, but we sure can be proud to claim them as our own. Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem will appear at the Iron Horse on April 3.•
