OR, THE WHALE

Self-Titled

2009-08-08

This is the second album from the San Francisco seven-piece outfit, Or, the Whale. I find it to be a bit more "countryfied" than their first album, "Light Poles and Pines". This album of sometimes rocking, folk-country does have some good things to offer, such as nice production and vocal harmonies. Besides your basic guitar, drums, and vocals, Or, the Whale's brand of Americana also features dobro, pedal steel guitar and banjo. Most of the songs here are somewhat Starland Vocal Band-sounding in their country-pop harmonies. The more rocking songs are the album opener, "No Love Blues", the haunting "Keep Me Up", and the Jefferson Airplane-ish "Black Rabbit". Rebecca Ruth

Quick Links:

More reviews tagged #Folk

  • reviewed 05/2008

    Various Artists
    My Blueberry Nights Soundtrack

  • reviewed 09/2007

    MATT NATHANSON
    Some Mad Hope

  • reviewed 05/2009

    WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS
    The Sparrow and the Crow

  • reviewed 11/2006

    YUSUF ISLAAM AKA CAT STEVENS
    An Other Cup

  • reviewed 12/2005

    Peter Himmelman
    Mision of My Soul: The Best of

  • reviewed 06/2005

    Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
    Red Dog Tracks

Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.