Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees: Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees

10

Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees: Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees

By

View read count
Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees: Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees
File Mike Lorenz and the Witherbees under folk, jazz or film soundtrack and they will have enough of the right sound not to seem terribly out of place. Okay, this moody debut isn't actually a soundtrack, but there is no reason why it shouldn't be if the right noir mind-bender were to come along. The quartet's musical blend is a thoughtful one, concerned much more with feel than genre; even when these songs are straightforward at heart, the arrangements rarely zig or zag quite the way one would first expect.

It is not usual for a jazzy outfit to open by covering someone like Corinne Bailey Rae, for instance, much less make time for a soothing double-bass solo in the middle. Most tracks here walk a similar line between familiar and enticingly odd. With a simple guitar-trio- plus-voice format and a feel for skewed listenability, songs from the Magnetic Fields or Paul McCartney slot alongside the group's originals as part of the same obscure daydream.

Jacqui Armbruster sings with equal parts simple heart and cabaret mystery, like a coffeehouse folkie who has wandered into a free experimental jam by accident and decided to just roll with it. Her lines meander without needing to settle into obvious catchy forms, much like the poly-toned shadings of Lorenz's guitar throughout. The leader is in constant flux here, strumming fuzzy slash chords in some spots and weaving a chiming cocoon of backwards-sounding reverb in others.

With his own "Cut & Paste," the treatment is a haze of guitar and smoky viola; the ersatz folk ballad "Grand Canyon" floats Armbruster's voice over a virtual canyon of echo. "Waterfalls" touches vaguely on light blues, while "Where Do I Begin?" somehow wanders from gospel hymn to clattering tumble-down-the-stairs chaos. Through it all, Mike Lorenz and the Witherbees flows in a way that always feels naturally random (or perhaps randomly natural). It's hard to predict what's around each bend, though the surprises only make the trip more interesting to repeat.

Track Listing

Are You Here?; Lilac (interlude); Copy & Paste; Grand Canyon; Waterfalls; Sycamore Trees; Lilac; Blind Willie; Home; Where Do I Begin?.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Self Produced

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.