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 Caught in the Carousel "There will be music despite everything"
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Nathan Maxwell
White Rabbit
SideOneDummy
When the White Rabbit appears in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland he says, "Oh dear, I may be too late." On White Rabbit, Nathan Maxwell and the Original Bunny Gang show us that we are not too late to enjoy these ten acoustic reggae tracks which seem to come straight from Mr. Maxwell's heart.
This is an incredible mellow gem of sound from the bass player of Celtic punk icons Flogging Molly. The songs were written over the past ten years—no small feat when you consider Flogging Molly's touring schedule. The rhythmic music is unfurnished and bare, which accurately creates the strong but gentle foundation to Mr. Maxwell's sparse vocal delivery and positive lyrical messages. Because it combines elements of reggae, folk and punk, the listener will be left with a sense that The Original Bunny Gang is letting the water of the music come almost to a boil, and that at any moment the lid will blow off—as is evident with the opener "Love Outlaw." From there we flow through to the compassionate hum of "Salt and Sand." All in, this lends itself to the raspy and wonderfully spare vocals with lyrics that don't beat the listener over the head. Early SideOneDummy Records press offers a quote from Maxwell, that I was quite taken with: "I come from a pretty hardcore punk background and I found that when I put on a hardcore punk record people didn't want to hear it unless they were already into it—but you put on a reggae record and whether they're listening to the lyrics or not, people seem to be more open to the music because the approach is a little softer."
While I'm sure we can all look forward to subsequent Flogging Molly offerings, I do hope that it doesn't take another ten years for Mr. Maxwell to craft his next set. The numbers on White Rabbit are suitable for playing to accentuate that most recent great moment, day or evening that you are all about to have.
White rabbit, we weren't too late—in fact, we're just in time...
VIVA!
3.5/5 OI's
Oi! Oi! Oi! O
—Peter Hamm
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