Homespun: May Day Orchestra, May Day, or Songs for Lucy Parsons

In this week's paper, Christian Schaeffer reviews the May Day Orchestra's May Day, or Songs for Lucy Parsons. He had this to say:

Despite the presence of some of the local rock and folk scenes' most inventive musicians, the arrangements on the vinyl-only May Day, or Songs for Lucy Parsons are mostly spare and stark, moving between low-slung ballads and foot-stomping fightin' songs. The slow-pulsing drone of the eight-minute opener "Cause for Alarm" feels static and overlong, though the pivot-point trumpet and trombone flourishes, along with [Brien] Seyle's twang-laden fiddle, gives the song a much-needed harmonic handhold. The band perfects this formula of concrete-fisted guitar strums and solemn brass-and-string accompaniment on the excellent "Death Letter," which sounds like an experimental castoff from Uncle Tupelo's March 16-20, 1992.

Read the rest here, and snag an MP3 below. MP3: May Day Orchestra, "Death Letter"

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