SIG 1295 / Departure / Released: February 2006
Label/Dist: Signature Sounds/Koch
Produced by The Mammals & Max Feldman |
 $15 + shipping 1 Follow Me To Carthage 2 Silk Song 3 Do Not Go Quietly Unto Your Grave 4 Alone on the Homestead 5 Kiss the Break of Day 6 Round the Bend 7 Tryin' to Remember What City I Know You From 8 Solo le Pido a Dios 9 Come As You Are 10 Dime-a Dozen 11 Satisfied Mind 12 Please Come In Chris Merenda: drums Michael Merenda: vocals, guitars, banjo Tao Rodriguez-Seeger: vocals, banjos, guitars, harmonica Jacob Silver: bass Ruth Ungar: vocals, fiddles, ukulele, guitar with special guests Ken Maiuri: organ, piano, glockenspiel Aoife O'Donovan: harmony vocals
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"Departure," is The Mammals' most recent release. It shimmers with a thrillingly original sound that is fresh, groovy, and sophisticated.
Be warned, there are no traditional foot-stompers on this album, although the instrumentation has not changed. They've added some organ and electric guitar, but for the most part, it’s fiddle, banjo, guitar, upright bass, drums and lots of great singing. And the politics, while still present in many of the songs, are more subtle, lurking powerfully below the surface.
“Follow Me to Carthage,” which leads off the album, is a melodic and powerful long-viewed gander at history repeating itself. “Alone on the Homestead,” sung from the voice of a woman who has lost her entire family to a war, is a timeless protest song and hauntingly beautiful. Michael Merenda, who wrote the lovely ballad, sings the gender-bending lead vocal, with Ruth Ungar adding harmony.
On “Kiss the Break of the Day,” a wonderful song about traveling the USA, and “Tryin’ to Remember What City I Know You From,” two more Merenda-penned songs, Ungar soars on lead vocal.
Tao Rodriguez-Seeger delivers the South American protest anthem “Sólo le pido a Dios” and the country ballad “Satisfied Mind” with astonishing sensitivity, and the band has artfully reinvented songs from artists as diverse as Morphine (“Do Not Go Quietly Unto Your Grave”) and Nirvana (“Come as You Are”.)
The combination of classic Mammalian dynamics, hard-hitting lyrics, and a new-found depth make "Departure" The Mammals' most polished and heartfelt recording to date.
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