The Felice Brothers - Life in the Dark

The Guardian 80

(YepROC)

The Felice Brothers recorded their new album on a farm, and clucking chickens even ended up on the recordings. Their Dylanesque Americana – all wheezing accordion, fiddles and folk tales about forgotten bandits – occasionally conjures up the atmosphere of a heady barn dance. But this rustic, deceptively homely backdrop provides a clever vehicle for songs that subtly but powerfully address the suddenly shakier foundations of Trump-era America. The nine songs see wedding dresses pawned, and houses and cars sold amid wealth inequality and “rich man’s wars”, but are never hectoring. Ian Felice’s lyrics tread a careful line between the blackest of humour and outright darkness, and their troubling imagery sounds musically exuberant. Plunder is ostensibly about a dog called Archibald but suddenly references a schoolgirl drowning. The Springsteenesque Triumph ’73 and grimly funny Jack at the Asylum are also terrific, characterful songs. However, the killer is the bleakly beautiful closer, Sell the House, which captures the painful scene as a family breaks up.