Folksongs
For the Afterlife - Put Danger Back
In Your Life
Glorious
debut by these New Yorkers! Engaging, ethereal pop shifting
between cinematic and driving with tender
lyrics and
female vocals.
This is destined
to be among my favorite records of 2003 as it locks into my affection for touching,
melancholy pop blending the styles of Club
8, pre-electroklash Dot Allison
(think her brilliant Afterglow album
without the reliance on shoegazer elements), dreamy Galaxie
500,
haunting Azure
Ray, and early-Beth
Orton.
Collaborators Caroline Schutz and Chris Sizemore first surfaced though a mini-CD
on Enraptured Records (UK) and have since appeared on a few compilations, but
haven't fully expressed themselves until the release of Put Danger Back
In Your Life. It is a spectacular salvo of windswept pop with yearning
lyrics revolving around the nature of love and relationships.
The album's beautiful artwork comes from a painting by Mark
Miller who has
done portraits of The Beatles, Elvis and Pricilla, and Richard Nixon. One of
his pieces was redone to use as the album cover for Lisa Loeb's Firecracker album. His painting of this couple in poppies is the perfect, evocative complement
to this spectacular album.
A
number of guest musicians perform on the record - some off whom
are now full FSFTA members! - notably David Gould (The
Bootleg Remedy), Chris Deaner (from Versus offshoot +/- (aka
plus/minus), Steve Toole, and Chris Seeds (Art Tankers Convoy).
In traditional
folk songs, it seems as though someone is always heading
down to the river to shoot their lover (or, if their
luck is running low, face the wrong end of that fateful gun).
And so it should come as no surprise that Put Danger Back
In Your Life, the first full-length release from Brooklyn-based
visionaries Folksongs for the Afterlife, spins an extended
ode to danger of every stripe. Of course — as fans of
Folksongs’ eponymous 1999 ep will testify — this
is not exactly unexplored territory for the band. Folksongs’ Caroline
Schutz and Chris Sizemore have long evinced a deep understanding
of the yearning passions and haunted heart that lurk at the
center of those classic ballads of love and loss.
Suffused
with minor key melodies and borne aloft by the understated
melancholy of Caroline Schutz's hypnotic voice, Put Danger
Back In Your Life is a drifting stormcloud of an album, moving
easily from the ominous, affecting crackle of “Reunion” to
the irresistable sunny-day pop of "Lockaway" without
shedding so much as an ounce of focus or power. The pair’s
strong twining of emotion and musicianship has finally come
full flower, producing a mesmerizing song cycle that is at
once impressively diverse and perfectly contained. Wrapping
traditional acoustic instrumentation within an electro-organic
cocoon of samples and solid-state synths, the duo draw an improbable — and
ultimately irresistible — musical throughline that effortlessly
connects The Hollies, Massive
Attack, My
Bloody Valentine and
the early 90’s dream pop of bands like Lush. Of course,
this diversity of influences is to be expected, given the bands’ musical
heritage: Chris' father was a popular Nashville folksinger
in the 60’s, while Caroline’s mum did time as both
a USO girl and a smoky-voiced nightclub singer — often
palling around with an unknown piano pounder by the name of
Burt Bacharach.
But still,
no simple catalog of influences or storied genealogy can
truly do justice to the sounds of Put Danger Back In
Your Life — only a good listen fully reveals just
how engrossing and delightful this album really is. Its eleven
tracks delicately
construct an emotional and aural adventure that is equal parts
heartache and healing, chaos and calm, danger and desire. Ultimately,
and without a doubt, it offers a trip down to the river that
is well worth the risk.
photos by Jasper
Coolidge
and the critics swoon:
"Dream-pop merchants from Brooklyn make LP debut> For those
under the impression that the current Brooklyn scene consists entirely of garage-rock
rehashes
and electroclash posing, the lazy, hazy sound of Folksongs For The Afterlife
will set you straight. Like some otherworldly combination of Mazzy Star and
vintage My Bloody Valentine, they employ wan female vocals and layers of moody
guitar
in a mind-bending manner whereby even the uptempo songs feel like ballads.
Without venturing into overproduction, ‘Put Danger Back In Your Life’ conjures
a rich sound capable of carrying you off into the daydream of your choice.” -Uncut
Magazine
“Folksongs
for the Afterlife are a band who look to the late '80s and early
'90s for their inspiration. The album calls to mind some of the
best shoegazer and dream pop bands like Lush, Chapterhouse, and
Ride without ever being derivative. Put Danger Back in Your Life
is their first full-length record, and they sound like they have
been making records forever; there isn't a bum note or bad idea
on the whole record. As strong as the music is and as memorable
as the songs are, the thing that really carries the band is Caroline
Schutz's strong voice. Pure and true and cotton candy sweet,
she always uses her voice for good and never slips into the evil
trap of oversinging…There are up-tempo rushes of sound
like the hooky "Lockaway"; country-tinged ballads like "Dark
Room," which
finds the other guiding force behind Folksongs, Chris Sizemore, chipping in on
vocals; moody, atmospheric tracks like the string-bathed "Miles
and Miles"; and folky tunes like the British folk-influenced "Ghost." The
best
song is the last one, "Summer Loop," an absolutely beautiful song with
Schutz
(and Sizemore) soaring delicately over standup bass, ringing guitars, and disjointed
orchestral samples. It sounds like a classic lost Fairport Convention or Pentangle
track. Folksongs for the Afterlife are an assured and interesting indie pop band.
Seeing Hidden Agenda on the cover of a disc is fast becoming the indie pop seal
of approval, and records like Put Danger Back in Your Life are the reason why.” -All Music Guide
 
 
photos by Jasper Coolidge
"Dark-eyed
Brooklyn chanteuse Caroline Schutz croons spooky, sample-spiked
folk hymns that recall a pared-down Pentangle or a post-millennial
Love. Folksongs For The Afterlife’s eponymous 1999 EP,
a collaboration between Schutz and guitarist-sequencer Chris
Sizemore, layered synthesized
beats over acoustic strumming and garnered much acclaim, mostly
in the UK. But “Put Danger Back In Your Life” makes
a bid for stateside attention: backed by a full-fledged band,
Schutz is now ready for some all-American
summer fun. “Serves you right for trying/To filter out
the sweeter sound,” Schutz tells a gloomy lover on “Closer
To The Ground,” and
Danger makes the sweetest sounds this side of 1967. Witness the
early-Breeders bounce of love-struck “Lockaway,” or
the Bacharach-style swing of “Did I Let You Down?” On
the album’s strongest tracks, Schutz channels
Neil Young, paying homage to the Godfather of Grunge with searing
guitars, atmospheric keyboards and loping vocal melodies that
give the CD its haunting, deceptively ingenuous charm. Like fellow
alt-rock pinups Liz Phair and Karen O, Schutz studied art at
Oberlin. But she’s not copping
any man-eater poses; even when in amorous pursuit, she’s
warily looking for love, not more notches on her lipstick case.
Even up-tempo numbers hedge their romantic bets, asking “Is
love ever enough? Should I even try?” (“You Walked
Me Home”). On this album, the answer’s a sweetly
melancholic, slow-burningly seductive yes." – Timeout
New York
“Until
recently, obsessing over British psych folk and idolizing Fairport
Convention was considered the height of geekdom. You can’t
leave the house now without tripping over some floppy-hat-wearing
band of longhairs playing jew’s harps and triangles. Caroline
Schutz and Chris Sizemore have been grooving to Bert Jansch and
Shirley Collins longer than you have, and as Folksongs For The
Afterlife, they make music that sounds very old and very new,
at once atmospheric, drugged out and hauntingly spare.
“I
didn’t start playing music until way after
college,” says Schutz.” “I was always obsessed
with music but felt like I couldn’t
do it because I had no training. So I opened Spin Magazine
one day, and there was this tiny article about Liz Phair. I
thought, ‘Oh, weird. I went
to college with a girl names Liz Phair, but she didn’t
play music.’ The
first line was, ‘This Oberlin graduate… ‘She
kind of got me off of my ass.” Schutz met fellow Brit-folk
enthusiast Sizemore in 1996. “My
strength is writing melodies and Chris’ strength is coming
up with soundscapes,” says Schutz. “The sum is
greater than its parts.”
The
result was a sleepy sound that mixed Schutz’s acoustic
instruments and mellow, breathy vocals (think Lush or Cocteau
Twins in their more intelligible moments) with Sizemore’s
electronic drum tracks and effects-heavy production. After
a 1999 EP on U.K. label Enraptured, Sizemore started a family
and moved to Florida, curtailing his contribution to the
project. Left to her own devices, Schutz brought together
a rather unlikely bunch of players, including bassist David
Gould (from
Western swing outfit the Bootleg Remedy) and drummer Chris
Deaner (from Verses offshoot +/-). The group’s debut
LP, Put Danger Back In Your Life (Hidden Agenda), yields
a broad sound, switching between lazy laments and all-out
rockers; the songs of danger slip from poppy shoegaze (“You
Walked Me Home”) and dark folk (“Ghost”)
to slurred wall-of-sound pieces (“Different Light”)
and at least one track that mixes all of the above styles (“Did
I Let You Down”).
“I
wanted to make an album that wouldn’t
be monotonous, that would suit every mood,” explains
Schutz. “I want a really
mellow, creepy song, then I want a really fast rock song. I
always think about the Breeders’ Last Splash because
it covers so many different bases… I’m
a huge Opal fan, too. Dave Roback was really Neil Young-influenced,
and so are we. People never pick that out of our music, but
I wanted the new album to be dark like that.” – Magnet
 
photos by Heather
Conley
On
this Brooklyn-based band's recently released full-length debut, "Put Danger
Back in Your Life," the front woman Caroline Schutz sings as if her voice were
part of the great beyond while throbbing guitars and subtle electronic effects
fill out a soundtrack that is tailor made for rainy-afternoon daydreaming.
- The New Yorker
They've
got one of the best band names and a sound that replicates a
feel you'd expect; melancholic-folk at the core augmented with
keyboards, electric guitars,
and drums. Mid-tempo and rockin' most of the time, their globs and swirls remind
me of pre-Loveless My Bloody Valentine. They just may give you a reason to
believe in an afterlife... - The Village Voice
Folksongs for the Afterlife is a Brooklyn based pop band whose music neatly sidesteps
the clique of influences that define the various local scenes that have been
grabbing headlines of late. Neither snarling '70s post-punk, nor cool '80s electro-attitude,
the band has managed to straddle those trendy decades with a beautiful set of
originals that seem to owe a debt to '90s Britpop shoe-gazers, add a dash of
'60s girl-group pop, and a large dose of personality and originality. The group
has two substantial tricks to up their collective sleeve here: the lush, shimmering
vocals of Caroline Schutz, who delivers melancholy and longing with such beauty
and restraint that it is hard not to be sucked into her universe, and the multi-layered
and compelling production of her main collaborator, Chris Sizemore. Restrained,
un-crowded layers of guitar, organ, electric piano, percussion and subtle samples
percolate below Schutz's dreamy, intimate melodies, and draw the listener in
ever closer. This young band effortlessly drops both buzzing, up-tempo pop and
hazy melancholia, and they have created a great album that comes on with little
fanfare, and yet delivers far more than expected. A beautiful and satisfying
new album that succeeds royally on its own terms. - Other Music
I
love being sucker-punched by great music. It's always nice when
a band makes a lovely sound, but when they throw in elements
that didn't appear initially,
that's when I just lose it. Today, dear readers, while listening to New York-based
Folksongs for the Afterlife's debut, Put Danger Back In Your Life, I officially
lost it. I'm going to admit it here, I'm only going to say it once, but I just
want to clear up any rumors that might develop: I LOVE Folksongs For The Afterlife.
I love the singing. I love the guitar parts. I love the noise. I love the charm.
I love the little recorded goodies like crickets chirping and scratchy vinyl
between songs. I love this record. Period. I first heard Folksongs for the
Afterlife on the recent Parasol's Sweet Sixteen collection. The song included
on the sampler, "Did
I Let You Down?," is a bossa-nova number with a great beat, and lead singer
Caroline Schultz sounds just like Astrid Gilberto, all breathy sighs and seductive
singing.
I wasn't surprised; Parasol's a label that specializes in this kind of music.
Every time I listened to the sampler, I almost always started my listen at
Folksongs' selection. When Put Danger Back In Your Life arrived in my mailbox,
I was excited,
because I was expecting the sounds of modern bossa nova pop. What I did not
expect was the shimmer and shine of a band with a full, lush, Lush sound. I
have a strong
feeling that the members of Folksongs for the Afterlife own and know by heart
every recorded note that Lush made. It became quite apparent that my initial
notions of them being a bossa nova/electronic pop band were way, way off. Sure,
that song led me in, and there's a tinge of that kind of sound throughout the
album, but it was an emotional bait-and-switch that I fell in love with immediatly.
How could I not? Schultz has that voice, which quickly recalls the terribly,
terribly-missed Miki Bereyni. You could make a someone a copy of Spooky, slip "Different
Light" in the middle, and none would be the wiser for it. All of the talk of
Lush should not, however, be construed that Folksongs for the Afterlife are
co-opting their style. While it is true that there's a definite inspiration,
Folksongs
for the Afterlife take that sound to new heights, creating a sound and style
all their own. From dazzling dreampop numbers like "Summer Loop" to the utterly
blissful pop of "Lockaway" and "Dark Room" and the utterly gorgeous "Did I
Let You Down?," Put Danger Back In Your Life is an aural treat that will remind
you of all the records that you love, and will happily remind you that good
music
never goes out of style. A beautiful debut from a wonderful band. Don't call
Folksongs for the Afterlife a "band to watch," because they're already here.
- Mundane Sounds
Visit
the official Folksongs for the Afterlife website... |
