The new A.A. Bondy record, “When the Devil’s Loose”, is pretty fucking terrific. I was trying to think of a more poetic way to put that, but that’s really what it boils down to. A.A. Bondy is the new project of Scott Bondy, formerly of Verbena, the late-90s grunge band from Birmingham. Except now Mr. Bondy is playing folky acoustic stuff with the guitar backing of Ian Felice from The Felice Brothers. And he’s doing it well.
“When the Devil’s Loose” is a great album for stargazing. That may seem like a strange statement, but just give it a listen. It’s got a spacey, relaxed mood and there are numerous references to the stars, cosmic phenomenon, and just fate in general. Take the first song, “The Mightiest of Guns”, for instance. One refrain goes, “With every breath you drink in the night / You won’t give up your blue without a fight / And looking at the sky there is no pain / See the stars all falling down like burning rain / They were fired by the mightiest of guns.” You try listening to that while checking out some of Alabama’s famous shooting stars and not get a little bit of a chill. The light, percussive finger-picking and atmospheric backing make you feel like you’re already belly-up to the night sky.
There’s also the “stars raining down from the sky” and “howling at the moon” he sings about in “I Can See the Pines are Dancing”, a toe-tapper that recalls late-60s folk with its simple structure and pleasant harmonies. It is available free for download here.
Want more? How about the final track, “The Coal Hits the Fire” with its watery-sounding, mood-setting intro. It just wouldn’t be a good folk album without a train song, you know? Except this train takes you around the sun. Of course. It’s all just his poetic way of saying that in time we all must leave and only our memories shall remain. Pretty, right? Damn right. He’s good at that.
And there’s “Dancing on the Moon”, a pleasantly simple piano track about the joys and woes of a temporary romance which ends when “the comet will come and swing ’round the sun”. I’m telling you, this dude loves him some cosmos! I bet he’s read all of Carl Sagan’s books.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that Bondy is a one-trick pony, though. He can also wax poetic about the appeal of leaving behind life’s doldrums for the “roar and the pound of the wild, wild sea” as he does in “A Slow Parade”. That song also showcases what I think is some pretty clever use of cadence to emphasize his point. Plus, I really like the line “Sometimes I don’t mind at all / Sometimes head against the wall”.
There’s plenty of dark imagery, too. The soulful title track alone mentions knife fights, drowning, dangerous confections, and some murderous dogs. And there are demons, twilight, and reckless abandon to be had on Mississippi nights with the slow, driving acoustic guitars of “The Mercy Wheel”.
Speaking of which, a couple of the songs almost feel like they belong in the next “Twilight” movie. Before you go grabbing for your garlic garlands, believe me when I say that I mean it in the best possible way. Most obviously there’s “Oh the Vampyre”, but I’ll talk more on that later. There’s also the seventh song, “False River”, which drips with sexy harmonies and sounds like the appeals of a vampire trying to seduce some supple young country girl out of her innocence/mortality.
My only real complaint about the album is highlighted well on “Oh the Vampyre”, actually. It’s a cleverly-written song about the trials of being a vampire, complete with jaunty, twangy backing guitars. But Bondy sings this ostensibly light-hearted tune with the same vocal treatment he gives all of the other songs. Don’t get me wrong, I like the song. It definitely made it on my recent Great Halloween mix. It’s just that Bondy doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of vocal range. I found myself wondering on a few occasions what the songs would sound like if performed by, say, Neko Case or Jim James or whoever else pops into mind as having a stellar (I can do starry language, too, bub) vocal range.
On a few occasions the album also reminded me of Elvis Perkins first album, natch. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the two would be playing together at Bottletree on Tuesday, November 10th. Yeah that’s like today, y’all. It’d be a crime to miss these two excellent artists performing together. You can bet your starry, starry ass that I’m going to be there.
