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"The Collected Short Stories of Carrie Anne Crowe" by the Sad Bastard Book Club is a great example of the cover matching the contents.
I quick glance at the art for this CD gives you a clue as to what will be found inside: striking, off-kilter yet also down-home, even humble.
We don't learn much about the folks who created the music on "The Collected Short Stories of Carrie Anne Crowe", there's no names of band members or assignment of insturments listed, no hints where the work was created. No pictures of grim, hung-over looking musicians to serve as identification.
All we have is the graphic design and the short story quotes it contains.
It is both empty and full of implications, and warns us nicely of the band's music.
At its most broad the work of the Sad Bastard Book Club falls under the umbrella of Gothic Americana (not surprising given their label). But the SBBC avoids the baroque multi-instrumentaion of 16 Horsepower and in-your-face chutzpah & volume preferred by many blues based performers.
As I said the music mimics the album art in that is humble, quiet where others would be loud, minimal where others would toss in extra instruments. These are late-night, just-stumbled-home-from-the-bar basement recordings. Except the production is better than that. Not too clean, yet not intentionally, gratingly, lo-fi.
Fittingly it is also strange and dark. The tales presented on this album are both intriguing and surreal. I keep finding myself leaning toward the stereo searching for further elucidation, wondering what I've gotten myself into... hearing snippets of tales that evoke both Tom Waits at his grittiest *and* Jim Morrison at his most noir.
This is music for those who are willing to follow strangers home... whether to love them or kill them depends on the story you choose.
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The Sad Bastard Book Club:
http://www.sadbastardbookclub.com/
http://www.myspace.com/sadbastardbookclub
Devil's Ruin Records:
http://www.devilsruin.com/
http://www.myspace.com/devilsruinrecords
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