“Dead of the night” from the “Woodn Bones” album
Since the advent of multi-track tape recorders, and following the Beatles Sgt Pepper’s explorations of the studio, records have become more and more sophisticated and more magical things happen in a studio that are virtually impossible to reproduce on stage.
With the digital revolution, this has been generalized to such an extent that these tricks are now possible in your bedroom with a laptop. Truth is, recordings are mostly smoke and mirrors and nowadays music can be made so perfect that it becomes bland and mechanical, so much so that some are expecting the advent of AI written and performed music in the near future. I hope I’ll be dead before that, TBH.
All of this to say that it’s exceptional to have an album recorded in one take with the whole band playing together, not only that but the recording itself took place in a theater, not as part of a live concert, but as a true recording experience.
The band assembled for this project was the 5 core members around Clint Slate, plus guest saxophonist and accordionist and an entire choir.
As is to be expected, the sound is captured “au naturel” and there is a beautiful ambiance on this album, which is giving such an extra dimension to the music. Many of these tracks benefit beautifully from the acoustic of the theater this was recorded in, and this “Dead of Night” track in particular.
You really feel like you are on stage surrounded by these musicians. The drums are big, the bass present, the guitars are warm and the piano inviting, and on top of that, Clint vocal flies and emotes with this rather dark tale and when the choir joins it adds such a power that you are swept away.
Verdict: 5/5 beards
To experience the full effect of this great album, go buy it at: https://clintslate.bandcamp.com/