Forgotten & Forgiven EP Review
By: Stephen Wilkins
Originally published November 1, 2017, by Plasma Magazine
Loudermilk & Moon’s latest Ep release is a dive into a whimsical state of clown psychology. The songs are extensive with exciting changes, each with a story woven inside by lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist Chris McGrath. He is joined on this EP by Lyle Baldes on drums, Peter Flamming on clarinet, Arthur Cabral on bass, and Emma Rubenstein and Abigail Popwell on percussion.
The sextet creates otherworldly music with a timeless folk quality that sounds like it could be echoing from the hills of the shire, or from a psychedelic circus tent with clowns miming the changes. The EP could be named the cosmic clown falls in love, as most the numbers are an in-depth look into the subject. It explores how relationships permeate with acceptance as well as deceptions, many caused by ourselves.
Standing at a slender six foot seven inches, McGrath could be intimidating if he wasn’t such a natural clown. “Saw black pedals when I thought they were red,” McGrath sings on Winter’s Wool insinuating that not all is as it seems in love. In relationships, we see what we want to see and it’s not till later that we see things for what they are.
The instrumentation is well thought out as not to be too cluttered, and there is patience in the slow roll of the compositions. LM&M aren’t afraid to start off slow and let the tension of the songs grow, and they mature beautifully into unsuspected sonic flowery blooms. This album could be summed up as somewhere between Devandra Banhart and The Fleet Foxes, but it goes beyond these simple comparisons as it touches on and draws from southern culture. There are references to sychada rhythms and other natural phenomena, but it is the storytelling that is so ingrained in growing up in the south that shines through.
All in all Loudermilk and Moon have produced a piece of sonic art that can be enjoyed on many different levels and for multiple listens. Check out their music on Bandcamp here.