EARLY DAY MINERSEarly Day Miners' surroundings have always been
reflected in their sound.
Their early compositions mirror the slowly unfurling, seemingly
inescapable expanse of the Midwest. Any sense of movement therein is
often a matter of patience, or perhaps just beautifully performed
sleight of hand, an aural homeopathy. There are generous hints at
intimacy, but it is obscured intimacy.
A change of place and the time between, from the basements of
Bloomington to the Bywater of New Orleans, has yielded a subtle but
correlative shift in the band.
The Crescent City; its name is not only a reminder of its shape carved
out by the river cradling it, but also a perfect allegory of a city
forever in flux between the most contrasting aspects of the human
condition, from light to dark. Within those darker quarters of
experience lies the gold that Early Day Miners have labored to unearth
with cautious vulnerability over the course of their eight albums.
The internalized rumination that has characterized the band up until
now has been exchanged for an open embrace of loss and sorrow and,
perhaps even more courageously, joy. Unmistakable in that acceptance
of all is a certain, audible lightness. Most notably Dan Burton’s
voice, once hushed and at times hesitant, is now full-bodied and sure;
his heart, once tenuously carried on his sleeve, is now firmly in his
throat.
And though this might be the leanest the lineup has been, they are
focused and warm, exuding the maximalism of their new home with nuance
and a laissez-faire approach.
Early Day Miners sound as unhurried as ever, but never aimless; Early
Day Miners have finally arrived.
HONEY RADAR
"Not sure if it's layered solo work or a group or what, but it's great
short pop spasms owing equal debts to early New Zealand's South Island
groups and Guided by Voices."
- The Wire
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23/07/2020 Last update