People, you're gonna thank me for pulling your coat to the Next Big Thing: Reeve Carney. "Reeve Carney & the Revolving Band: Live at Molly Malone's" will thrill you.
That is, if you like quirky magical bluesy music that defies description. Reeve Carney has all the eccentric genius of Sufjan Stevens, but he leans heavily toward the blues. I first saw him when he opened for Jonny Lang, where he at first was merely confusing. Walking out calmly to center stage with no announcement, no band, and no introduction, a thin young man who looked about 16 calmly picked up an electric guitar and started quietly playing monster blues riffs, almost as if he was alone in his bedroom. I thought it was a sound tech until he started tearing up the place with searing fingerwork and his oddly startling vocals, still completely unaccompanied. Within ten minutes he had the crowd eating out of his hand, and at the forty minute mark we were a sweaty mess of newly-forged Carney fanatics. So I was eager to listen to “Reeve Carney & the Revolving Band: Live at Molly Malone’s.”
Molly Malone’s is a small club in LA, stocked, apparently, with rapid Carney fans. Carney’s Revolving Band includes brother Zane (guitar/vocals), sister Paris (percussion/vocals), Gavin Salmon (drums), Charles Jones (keys/vocals), and JD on bass. Reeve plays guitar and Wurlitzer, and he plays ‘em to death on these nine self-penned tracks (other than “Whatever Lola Wants”). Opening smoothly with the bluesy “Easier Said Then Done,” Reeve’s husky vocals are immediately captivating, and the mid-track note-bending only adds to the soulful magic. The oddly energetic keyboard-driven “Oh No (I Know It Won’t Last)” is melodic and yet, has a bizarre circus energy to it. And yes, I know these descriptions are not completely helpful, but I tell you, Carney’s compelling sound is hard to pin down.
Bluesy crooner “There She Goes” is as close as Carney gets to anything remotely radio-friendly, and its got this oddly charming French feel to it. Again with the confusing references, I know. “Resurrection” is Carney’s signature song, with its searing guitar riffs and vocals that careen from wild wails to tender murmurs. The nine minute track moves from thick looming guitars to whispering echoes laying just below the surface, and back again, before bursting into a discordant free-fall and rapid-fire electric thrashing. “Amelie” is a masterpiece of sizzling finger-picking, and the quietly lovely “Whatever Lola Wants” simmers with intensity. “Live at Molly Malone’s” closes powerfully with one of the more overtly vertical tracks, the haunting “Think of You.” Carney’s vocals are softly passionate over his quiet picking; this young phenomenon communicates an astonishing level of fervor in even his more tranquil moments. “Live at Molly Malone’s” reveals, even in its quirky originality, a raw and sizzling talent in Reeve Carney. The album contains both the CD and a DVD. Pick it up today and be the first on your block to tap into the electrifying passion of Reeve Carney.
