Crooked Still
(Signature Sounds)
Aptly named, Crooked Still’s third record arrives with a title that intimates what its contents demonstrate: in spite of recent changes in its constitution--the departure of cellist Rashad Eggleston and expansion to a five-piece with twin replacements Tristan Clarridge (on cello) and Kristin Haas (on fiddle)--the essentials of the band’s sound and approach continue as before.
Still Crooked again mixes old and new, unearthing and infusing traditional fare (the gorgeous, dirgelike “Captain, Captain,” elliptical snippet-songs “Pharoah” and “Wading Deep Waters,” the old-time sound of “Tell Her to Come Back Home,” the bowed-cello stateliness of “Florence”), revivifying an Ola Belle Reed gem (“Undone in Sorrow”) and visiting the country blues of Mississippi John Hurt (“Baby, What’s Wrong with You”), and adding a few new songs (including two from the pens of band members) that seem positively loquacious compared to their elder cousins.
And the band again draws from bluegrass, early stringband, blues and folk for a sound, centered on the whispering, wraithish voice of Aoife O’Donovan, that seems at once ancient and unprecedentedly contemporary. Still crooked, and still singular.
Standout tracks: “Undone in Sorrow,” “Florence” STUART MUNRO
