The Unfaithful Servants – Fallen Angel
Coming in under the wire is the late entry Canadian bluegrass group The Unfaithful Servants. They possess all the necessary ingredients to matter in this vast music genre that was once ridiculed & predicted as something that wouldn’t last. Much the same as R&R. They debuted in 2019 & continued to evolve their sound & presentation.
On this, their sophomore album, there are 11 wings for a Fallen Angel (Dropped October 17/Independent/45:25) produced by Adrian Dolan in Canada. The playing is precise & the instrumentation colorful with generous interplay. Not as full-sounding as an old ensemble known as Big Shoulders (“Big Shoulders” & “Shoulders Suite”), but they do share that splendor.
“Never You Leave Again” is superb — a strongly melodic bluegrass piece sung with a drizzle of The Band’s Rick Danko with a more traditional flavor. “Real To Touch” has an energetic, more mainstream sound with well-assembled instrumentation. The fiddle & acoustic guitar interplay is a thrill. There are 2 intense tunes. The title track “Fallen Angel” & “Buried in the Snow.” While the vocals aren’t compelling & punchy, they do serve the genre with good-sounding interpretations. They are faithful to the song. The vocalist is rural enough to be genuine, but there’s little to suggest there’s much range to the repertoire.
I find their performance convincing nonetheless, especially with a performance like “Adeline” that’s a distant cousin to The Band’s “Ophelia.” So, while the group is without a doubt fine bluegrass musicians, they shouldn’t lose sight of their expected material having their bluegrass liveliness as well as being imaginative. They need to maintain through understanding that many proficient bluegrass instrumentalists are playing. Those musicians may stay in the comfortable confines of tradition. But the wizards that are The Unfaithful Servants must be one step ahead by being imaginative. Not every track is abracadabra to an average Joe’s ear. And that’s the ear they need to tug.
Songs like “Negativity” & “Buried In the Snow” make the band impressive purveyors of a tradition that has struggled through the decades. Though country music always tells wonderful stories, I always found bluegrass to be more melodic than country music. Not as structured, bluegrass allowed musicians to stretch the country element into more challenging facets. I think Bill Monroe didn’t want jazz to leave country in the dust. And with bluegrass — they didn’t.
The Unfaithful Servants are truly fascinating.
Highlights – “Never You Leave Again,” “Real To Touch,” “Fallen Angel,” “Adeline,” “Negativity,” & “Buried in the Snow.”
Hidden 12th track: a bluegrass instrumental rendition of Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” – this is impressive & what I’m talking about! Exceptional.
Musicians – Dylan Stone (guitar/vocal/lyrics), Jesse Cobb (mandolin/vocal/lyrics), Quin Etheridge-Pedden (fiddle/vocal) & Mark Johnson (bass/vocal).
CD photo courtesy of Syd Woodward. CD @ Bandcamp & https://www.unfaithfulservants.com/
