Can a banjo be incorporated into a darker style music? Conceding the fact that it has been successfully used in a few horror movies, it would seem that like all things are possible. Enter the album Mountain States by New Mexico based musician Johnny Bell, an aficionado of the banjo. Bell (banjos, fiddle, shruti, cymbals) is joined by Andrew Weathers (guitars, synthesizers, cymbals) and the album out on Centripetal Force Records.
“Old Blood” has droning electronics weaving in and out of hearing, creating a disturbing bleakness in comparison to the vigour of the banjo, as if pointing to something that is at odds with the world. The tune is mesmerising at the end, as if it once held dancers to its rhythm.
The first chords jangle, causing a shiver up the spine before fingers dance across the strings, plucking furiously in “Caldera Repose.” It sounds near effortless in performance, with the banjo singing refrains inside its own tune.
At seven minutes and fifty-one seconds, “Secret Cities” is the longest track and it is a slow burn. It is the drone that holds the track together, unrelenting in the background, allowing the banjos to attack, recede or fill the spaces in between. It is not happy nor angry, but rather in the moment of breathing and knowing we are where we are meant to be,
It calls back to an era of U.S. expansion and pioneering of the wilderness. Of a life lived in a land filled with great beauty and wonders, that could just as quickly turn on you, meaning small joys like music are everything. You feel the past reaching through each track, with Bell as the conduit, adding his own lived experiences, tying the past to the modern era, living with those ghosts, but looking towards the future as well.
Onyx Music Reviews 