Josh T. Pearson 'Last of the Country Gentlemen' album cover
photography by Claudia Grassl
Saturday 29 January 2011
Josh T. Pearson album review 27 January 2011
Glorious Noise: Josh T. Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen
(by Todd Totale)
(by Todd Totale)
How do you grade a perfect album? More to the point, how do you review an album so remarkable that its perfection will ultimately turn most listeners off?
And here is something else that will blow your mind: Most of the people who end up disliking Last Of The Country Gentlemen after they’ve heard it still won’t be able to pan it very much, because that would be like piling more agony on a guy that sounds like he’s just had the worst day of his entire life.
The back-story goes like this: Josh T. Pearson pulls the plug on the promising Lif to Experience band after one double album and a year of such enormous tragedy that it gets the band members to consider “Maybe this is a sign from a higher being that we should wrap it before things really get bad.”
For a man like Pearson - someone raised in a family with religious convictions - a sign from above is not something to ignore or take lightly.
During a nearly decadelong sabbatical, Pearson released only one song - an appropriate cover of a Hank Williams’ tune. Occasionally, he’d play a gig or two for fifty bucks, purposely avoiding the road to additional notoriety.
But at one show, he noticed that his epic tales of inner turmoil even brought tears to a pair of surely Irish meatheads. It was then that Josh T. Pearson decided he needed to record the material, because he realized that the music he created to resolve his own demons was powerful enough to emit a cathartic response in others.
Last Of The Country Gentlemen is sixty-minutes long with only seven songs to choose from. Do the math, and you’ll see that this means you’re in for a long ride. And with only Pearson’s last-call drawl and barely there instrumentation underneath, you’re going to need a moment or two to fully engulf this understated masterpiece.
The short track listing may be intimidating to some, but it is essential to this album’s success. Nearly every song is a slow build, and for many of them, things start getting jaw-droppingly good around the halfway point.
There’s a vague linear pattern that’s followed on the longer material, but you get the unnerving sense that he’s softening himself up a bit on the first half of the song before totally laying everything out on the song until it feels uncomfortably close to eavesdropping.
“Sweetheart I Ain’t Your Christ” starts with broken guitar scales before Pearson weaves a heart-wrenching tale of a love that’s parting. “You don’t need a lover or a friend,” he whispers. “You need a savior,” he continues, hitting each word with purpose, “And I am not … him.”
You can hear Pearson break down close to tears at some points. At others, he’ll pause for what seems like an eternity - leading the listener to believe the story is over. After the silence, he returns, leading us to believe that he needed a moment or two to collect himself before continuing ahead.
I don’t know how it will affect you, but I pushed back tears over a half-dozen times the first time I heard Last Of The Country Gentlemen. Sure, the impact had a lot to do with the material and the way it’s delivered, but the sheer honesty of this collection resonates with our compassion as people. If you don’t feel a tinge of empathy when you hear “I know no one knows more than I that I was wrong, and still I can barely say 'I’m sorry' with a fuckin’ song” ("Sorry With A Song") then maybe you’re part of what’s wrong with the world. The lack of civility of our elected leaders, the joy that we relish when people fail before us, and the way we address each other in digital anonymity - all of these traits are the polar opposite of what’s taking place in this record.
There’s a sense of caring within Last Of The Country Gentlemen’s devastation - even when the narrator’s struggling with his own sin and guilt. Yes, there’s a bunch of spiritual imagery throughout the album, giving the confessional a heavier tone and those moments of silence an added poignancy.
Give it the time it deserves and you’ll hear how a quick, minimally arranged weekend recording of a Texan abroad can stand above most anything else you’ll hear all year.
Listen again and you may even hear something beyond the album of the year accolaids that Last Of The Country Gentlemen will undoubtedly receive. You may hear a record that can warm your heart enough that it points the way to your own redemption.
Josh T. Pearson early album review 21 January 2011
Citizen Dick: Josh T. Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen
(by Kevin)
(by Kevin)
Our other writer Brian and I were discussing the essential purpose of art and whether or not it diminishes in value once it's up for sale. Brian's ideal artisitic mode involves a bunch of musicians creating, recording, and editing a tune and then immediately lighting it on fire as to avoid any sort of lessining of value due to audience interaction. In other words, art is for the creator moreso than the audience. I can dig this vibe, although we'd be left with a whole lot less music to enjoy if this was the primary method.
It makes perfect sense, however, and ideally the connection between audience and artist doesn't always NEED to be pleasant. It doesn't always need to follow a definite and logical pattern, and nowhere in the rulebooks does it say that an artist is required to develop some sort of pipeline of communication with his/her audience. It's a super intriguing thought, actually. If the audience is inherently the dangerous variable in the artistic communication, then perhaps the best kind of art is where the audience listens from afar, and sort of vicariously hovers over the artist and witnesses the blood, sweat, and tears of the act of creation, and does so without commentary or evaluation. This is probably where the devaluation comes in. When audiences evaluate, something becomes less valid, less important. Although I'd never admit it in person to my pal, Brian, I agree with him more than I let on. Perhaps the best kind of art is the kind that the audience has no business even attempting to understand or evaluate. That's also what strangley draws me into the upcoming (in USA 3/29) Josh T. Pearson album, Last of the Country Gentlemen.
There are only seven songs on the album, an intensely personal and introspective album. This is Pearson (formerly known for his work with critically acclaimed Texas act, Lift to Experience) heading back into the recording studio solo for the first time since the band disbanded. Pearson's work with Lift to Experience is well known, and perhaps the last vestiges of that former time bubble up to the top quite a bit in this record, but to speak generally, this album needs no formal referencing to his back catalog, nor to his hefty collaboration work since the band's breakup. Pearson strips down the personality so omnipresent on The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads and introspectively creates something gorgeous. Truth be told, the beauty is that this album doesn't need an audience, nor is Pearson asking for any sort of evaluation, and that's precisely what allows me to hover over this record without any sort of judgment with regards to musicianship or song development. Four of the tracks are over 10 minutes long and ramble deeply into the emotional ups and downs of a broken, rebuilt, broken, and rebuilt again human being. There are pounds of guts poured into every missed note and hushed strum of the album. Pearson moves into the artistic zone often throughout the meandering tracks, leaving any inkling of his listeners far, far behind, and discerning tastes are left to reap the benefits of his toil. The value here lies not in complexity or pop-star hooks. I'm not sure I can even categorize this into a specific alt-country or even straight-laced country genre. What is powerful is this indie-rock journeyman looking inside and battling his own demons.
The album hits the shelves March 29th, which is quite awhile down the road, but this won't be the last time the blogosphere makes a mention of this album. I could regurgitate a press release and mention all of the musicians that are lining up to rally behind this thing, but that sort of defeats the general purpose of Pearson's art in the first place. I don't think he cares, which makes me care even more. Mark it on your calender and be sure to experience this insanely unique and artistically personal and relevant collection of seven tunes. The folks at Mute were nice enough to allow us to post the MP3 piano version of "Country Dumb" below, which Pearson is offering up as a free download at his website for signing up. Additionally, enjoy the videos for the aforementioned track and "Woman When I've Raised Hell", both of which are among the seven tracks on the album. I think once you see Pearson and wrap your brain around the video and track, this review will make perfect, and pleasant sense.
Sign up on Pearson's website by clicking HERE to receive updates as the album nears, and he's also giving away this MP3 there, as well.
Josh T. Pearson Country Dumb single/ Union Chapel show announcement 18 January 2011
JOSH T. PEARSON
COUNTRY DUMB – OUT 21 FEBRUARY
DEBUT ALBUM - OUT 14 MARCH 2011
UK TOUR DATES INC PURCELL ROOMS – SOLD OUT
NEW DATE ON SALE - UNION CHAPEL – 11 MAY
“I come from a long line in history of dreamers/ Each one more tired than the one before/ All of us too poor to pay attention/ Sweet dreamin' was all we could afford…”
Josh T.Pearson 2011
“Last Of The Country Gentlemen by Josh T. Pearson, the former lead singer of the Texan band Lift to Experience, is a modern classic.”
Will Hodgkinson, The Times
“Pearson is a one of a kind artist and words can't describe how fucking good Last Of The Country Gentlemen is - heavy, beautiful and brilliant.”
Mark Lanegan
“I first heard of Josh when I listened to the Lift To Experience album The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads. It was around the time I started recording the first Bat For Lashes album, and I remember being so taken aback by Josh's haunting voice, preacher-like storytelling lyrics and guitar playing... Like a doomed angel singing over a desert storm.”
Natasha Khan, Bat For Lashes
As a precursor to his Berlin-recorded debut solo album, Last Of The Country Gentlemen (released 14 March), Texan Josh T. Pearson will release the single, ‘Country Dumb’. A man whose legendary musical output has only grown in stature, many will be familiar with the short-lived phenomenon that was Lift to Experience, which released one sprawling masterpiece, 2001's The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads, before splitting up soon after. So beloved by John Peel were they that he had LTE record three sessions in five months and were included in the Best 125 Peel Sessions of all time.
An album standout, this exclusive single edit of ‘Country Dumb’ features renowned multi-instrumentalist and composer Dustin O’ Halloran on superbly subtle piano accompaniment. The release of ‘Country Dumb’ coincides with an already sold out Slaughtered Lamb show. Add to this a further sold out show at the Purcell Rooms in April, you might begin to piece together the makings of a much heralded and rapturous return. Josh T. Pearson then plays the Union Chapel on May 11 with a string quartet to round out what promises to be an outstanding clutch of London shows alongside a full UK tour.
Since the demise of Lift to Experience, Josh T. Pearson has spent many years in the wilderness, only releasing one studio recording, ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’, a split 7” single with the Dirty Three, and an appearance on the song ‘Trophy’ included on the Mercury Prize-nominated Bat for Lashes album, Fur and Gold.
Watch an exclusive version of ‘Country Dumb’ here: youtube.com/watch?v=pg_kWAD9A8k and download the piano version from www.joshtpearson.co.uk
Josh T. Pearson UK Tour Dates:
Wed 23 Feb London Slaughtered Lamb SOLD OUT
Thu 24 March Sheffield Queens Social Club
Fri 25 March Glasgow Stereo
Sun 27 March Manchester The Deaf Institute
Tue 29 March Brighton Brighton Ballroom
Wed 30 March Nottingham Bodega
Fri 1 April London Purcell Rooms SOLD OUT
Wed May 11 London Union Chapel atpfestival.com/events/jtpunionchapel.php
ON SALE NOW
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