A Sweeping Curve of Sound

California’s The Grizzly Owls want to take you to the honky-tonk. But not just any honky-tonk. Their bar is a Dust Bowl-era joint where Nick Cave and Merle Haggard swap stories while Patsy Cline (or is it Elizabeth Fraser in a cowboy hat) sings a sad ballad concerning fallen women. Then after the inevitable bar-fight, they all settle down and watch European art-house cinema.

Singer Jenny Andreotti

“The Grizzly Owlswere inspired by their grandparents’ journey from Oklahomato Bakersfield, Californiaduring the Dust Bowl migration. Keeping in tradition with their roots, The Grizzly Owls looked to country legends such as Buck Owens and Merle Haggard in addition to writers Raymond Carver and Henry David Thoreau, spaghetti westerns of the 1960’s and French new-wave films of Jean-Luc Godard as influences. As a married couple, Joseph and Jenny Andreotti made music together for seven years before recording their debut, By Night On My Bed. Jenny’s smoky vocals give depth and texture to Joseph’s Southern style guitars and electro-pop beats.  Raymond Richards (Frankel, Mojave 3) contributed pedal steel and vibraphone while mixing and mastering what’s come to be a whimsical record full of tales about death, lust, love, and obsession.”

If we are going to make musical comparisons, Neko Case is a decent place to start.  A sort of old-timey country sound filtered through a post-punk aesthetic. But while Case has slowly grown away from formal country structures, The Grizzly Owls keep a steady Spaghetti Western-influenced sound firmly in place (along with some hints at electro-pop). It very much reminds me of an ethereal band trapped in the Old West. I don’t quite see the Nick Cave influences they claim, but I also haven’t heard the full album. Is there some madness hidden beneath the surface? Only time (and a promotional copy of the album) will tell. In the meantime, enjoy these two very enjoyable songs from “By Night on My Bed”.

Downloads: The Grizzly Owls - “Rifles and Hemlines”, “What’s A Girl to Do”
(from “By Night on My Bed”)

Links: The Grizzly Owls @ MySpace The Grizzly Owls e-card