The Bard stands with the Reformers of Peterloo, and their shared genius in teaching history with music and song
Album reviews with IAN SINCLAIR: July 3, 2023
New releases from Bonny Doon, Speech Debelle and Jacob Young
SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State
MARIA DUARTE and MALC McGOOKIN review Sirat, The Testament of Ann Lee, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and All You Need Is Kill
STEVE ANDREW recommends a Marxist analysis of the long chains of production that global corporations exploit
MARY CONWAY relishes the period detail but misses the drama in this unsatisfactory dramatisation of the subjugated life of George Eliot
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a mainstream scholar to the ranks of left-wing critique of US foreign policy
PETER MASON is disappointed that the eponymous Count fails to put in an appearance
Bonny Doon
Let There Be Music
(Anti-)
★★★★
WHAT a pleasure this album is – the third from US band Bonny Doon.
Fans of sad white boy songwriters from across the pond like David Berman, Joe Pernice and Frontier Ruckus’s Matthew Milia will immediately feel at home with the warm melancholy created by Bobby Colombo (vocals, guitar), Bill Lennox (vocals, guitar) and Jake Kmiecik (drums).
Like the aforementioned artists, the Detroit-born three-piece trade in a poppy Americana, from the super catchy bar room piano on yearning opener San Francisco to the unlikely positivity of the title track. The tired-sounding You Can’t Stay The Same could be a track on The Jayhawks’ 1992 altcountry classic Hollywood Town Hall.
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