Us And Them

Kinloch Nelson

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US AND THEM - THE LIGHTS AND THE SHADOW
(LP on Friends of the Fish)

Fifth album from Britt Rönnholm and Anders Håkansson explores their two musical passions, "the light" (organic, ephemeral, dreamy) and "the shadow" (darker, gothic, eerie) and their expertise at tackling both sides of that musical coin leaves us with one of the year's finest releases.

But this is not a fawning reproduction of some of their favourite artists - there's menace behind the sweetness, tenderness amidst the haunting atmospherics. An oblique look at the world we live in, perhaps, but an honest assessment of the dichotomy of the push-me-pull-you society we all have to navigate.

The harmonic vocal arrangements may be one of the first things you'll notice - like a choir of guardian angels hovering over us as we tread down dark passages, easing our nervous tremblings, and comforting our fears of the unknown. 'Me And Ones Before Me' even features a middle-of-the-night awakening in a forest - how did I get here? Have I been here before?

The eponymous 'Us And Them' is not a Floyd cover, but a rather upbeat tapper,  "If The Summer Lingers' is a nostalgic nod to happy times that will see us through the rough spots, but 'Things Obvious To Other People' approaches relationships troubles from outside - why do others always seem to see our troubles before we do?

Us And Them have graced us with another view into their inner feelings, emotional tangles, and dark corners of personal interactions, but they've done it with such grace, tenderness, and sweet cuddles amidst the rough detours that you'll want to take this journey with them over and over again. And, oh, what pleasant company!

(Jeff Penczak)

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KINLOCH NELSON - WAITING: MORE RECORDINGS, 1968-1976

(Tompkins Square Records)

More recordings?  Yes, this is a follow-up to acoustic guitarist Kinloch Nelson's 2019 release Partly on Time: Recordings, 1968-1970, also on Tompkins Square.  This collection features some recordings that predate Partly on Time and others that came after that period.  Now having heard them both, I actually prefer this new remainders set.

These are home recordings, but the set finds a nice balance between digitally cleaning up old tapes and retaining some of their original charm by retaining ambient sounds like squeaking doors and train whistles.  Nelson recorded the first five tracks with friend and fellow guitarist Carter Redd (who also figures prominently on the Partly on Time collection) in late 1967 or early 1968.  Right off the bat, Nelson's tunefulness comes through on "Opus 1 by Two" and "Opus 2 by Two." Nelson's and Redd's fingerstyle guitar playing are jangly, melodic and playful.  His personally written liner notes on the Bandcamp page are funny: "The first song's working title was 'Peanut Butter.' ('Scrambled Eggs' had already been taken.). But that sounded dumb, so we changed it to"Opus One.' Naturally, the next song became 'Opus Two.' But there's a gazillion Opus Ones and Opus Twos out there, so I changed the titles so they might have a fighting chance." The listener is immediately put into a pleasant state of mind.

"Train Coming"  introduces some good minor key and rhythmic tension that works well.  "Waiting," which was recorded later, in 1970, reminds me a little of a sped-up version of Jefferson Airplane's "Comin' Back to Me." "Big Machine," recorded in 1971 or 1972, is the one track performed with a different second guitarist, Bob Stein.  Perhaps that's Stein playing all those lead lines, which are more sophisticated than any others on the album. 

Unfortunately, the song itself is more melodically flat than the others, too, and the fancy soloing successfully distracts from compositional shortcomings to a certain extent.

Closer "Los Collados De Las Penas Blancas" was written in 1976 while on a visit to Columbia.  It has some jazzy interludes, but the main theme is more of a straight-up folky rag on the order of Merle Travis or Doc Watson.

Waiting:  More Recordings... is a pleasurable collection of melodic, fingerstyle acoustic guitar by an accomplished player.  It's one of the seemingly bottomless well of good music waiting to be discovered in the attics and cellars of fine musicians.

(Mark Feingold)