There has never been a shortage of what I’ll call ‘alt-folk collectives’ in Edmonton. When I was growing up in festival city you’d have found me on the dance floor shaking and dripping with sweat to Hookahman. Twenty plus years later and Edmonton can call on the Whyte Ave Womprats for all things folk-funk-frenzy. 'I've Been Thirsty For Hours', the Womprats 2017 full length record is a call to arms for all who love experimental roots sounds with a touch of social commentary.
‘Parched Lawn Blues’ is one in a sampling of 11 irrepressible and ‘full throttle’ tracks. On Parched Lawn Blues, singer Brett McCready takes stock and asks “what the fuck happened to my youth?” I’m not sure if McCready and the Womprats were on those same Hookahman dance floors 20 years ago but I know I’ve been asking the same questions as I roll into middle age. I image any listener would find an inlet of relation with the band.
For example, ‘Evan’s Song’ is despair set to a party atmosphere. Lamentations are issued and met by bonny banjo, winding fiddle lines and a cacophony of rhythm. It may strike some at this point on the ‘I’ve Been Thirsty for Hours’ journey that there’s just a touch of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem to the Womprats sound. Perhaps the reference is a little past it’s prime but the sound created certainly isn’t.
Jordan Doolin on bass, Jarret Gray on fiddle/trombone duty, with Zookie on percussion, Daniel Watson on banjo/sax and Kyeler T on mandolin/trumpet create a large, wide sound of stomping feet inducing gold. Brett McCready’s voice separates the band from the herd. It’s as unique as a voice comes. That he can use his voice to express his conceit for a world “obsessed with possession” on the track ‘ Land of Tyranny’ connects those of us concerned about our planet even more to the band. The band’s solution: “Don’t fall in line, don’t follow the herd, be sceptical of what you hear and never be sure.” Words to live by in my estimation. After listening to ‘I’ve Been Thirsty for Hours’, I wonder again why some musicians and other entertainers sound more like the decent politicians we want to elect as opposed to the ones lying to us and doling out the leftovers instead of what’s promised.
If you’re a devout follower of religious mythologies, you may want to skip over the ‘2 minute filler’ track. Not to worry though, I most definitely put in the extra plays on that particular ‘filler’ to make up for anyone skipping over the Womprats excellent queries on deities. Maybe those listeners offended by questions should skip over the next track, ‘City of Death’ as well. But if critical though and a bit of sacreligion is your bag, you’ll be in a figurative heaven as ‘City of Death’ marches on.
Perhaps I’m mistaken but if I were to make a guess I’d say with almost certainty that most of this album was recorded in a way that all musicians involved were facing each other or at the very least, recorded together in unison. ‘I’ve Been Thirsty for Hours’ has the feel of a session like Van Morrison’s ‘Astral Weeks’ where songs are built upon in the moment. ‘I’ve Been Thirsty For Hours’ reveals a crew of musicians speaking the same language with multiple musical dialects and somehow producing something succinct. It really is a marvel of an album.
McCready sings often of his cynicism, something that in 2018 shouldn’t alarm anyone. “Today is the day that we take back the ivory towers that those bastards had us build to raise themselves above the ones that they enslave”, opines McCready in ‘Wolfpack’. “Be a wolf and not a sheep” is his message here. I think we all need to sit down and have a beer with the band. They have some simple solutions to humanity’s entrapment by corporations that I like- especially because they come in music form.
On ‘I’ve Been Thirsty For Hours’ the Whyte Ave Womprats conclude with the very notion of having that beer. ‘Drink With Me’ is the very invitation I’ve been looking for. You’ll want to ‘come and have a drink’ and commiserate with the band, too. Once the instruments come out and the whiskey flows, I cannot fathom how the Womprats won’t have you tapping your toe and hootin’ & hollerin’ to the musical notes of our cultural and societal demise.
-- Val Christopher
Listen Now
On Capital City Records!
Listen Now
On Capital City Records!