For Raymond Byron and the White Freighter, though, the name change seems entirely necessary. His experimentation with noise, crackles, beeps and beats are over. Without any distraction by or hiding behind experimentation, Little Death Shaker rests on the precipice of his transition to confident bone-baring. His closest musical relative in this regard might be Bright Eyes, who also manages to grasp that tangible sense of drama in the cycle of anguish and release.
Yes, there are some explosive choruses but these are sandwiched between songs of sombre meditation and love lost — the type of truly painful love songs that come without any cathartic relief. Instead it projects a more acute sense of virtuous reverence for life and the karmic nature of things — in a way that only a practised country outfit can — and all of this whilst managing to avoid the common pitfall of hollow mimicry.
Its originality comes not from novelty but in fresh, solid song-writing. It runs through its emotional gamut with such ease that it would be difficult to highlight the two singles or one ballad often included in a template that even the very un-poppy artists seem to want to follow.
For all the potential raw power on the record, that Black Keys kick-in-the-gut chorus is just one verse too far away. Of course this could be considered a mark of restraint from a man who has all the right gear to pull it off, but with every other country and folk trope accounted for with aplomb — with the atmosphere set so perfectly for a sudden explosion of overdriven guitar- it does seem like a missed trick.
Little Death Shaker is the first notable record of late to avoid the pitfall that so often swallows up artists in this genre. A pitfall which, up to now Raposa had avoided through experimentation and diversions: painting an honest picture of the deep south and necessitating slide-guitar, banjo and harmonica without even the slightest sense of pastiche. Raymond Byron is really Ray Raposa of San Diego's Castanets, and since that band featured a floating configuration of musicians and was always centered around Raposa's singing and songs, and since many of those same musicians are also present on this release, which is also centered around Raposa's singing and songs, Little Death Shaker is essentially a new Castanets album.
It's all part of the same dark quilt. It's a wonderful quilt at times, though, and songs here like "Don't That Lake Just Shine," "Whipporwill," and "Stateline" are dark personal tales of desolation and a desperate search for redemption. At times they almost could pass for country, although they embrace a different kind of America, the kind one finds at all-night truck stops at 4 a. That's the America Raposa inhabits in these songs, and it's the same place he's explored as the Castanets.
Somehow it's comforting, if not exactly uplifting. Hope shines brightest in the darkest places. Raposas new project isn't as new as you might think; the outfit consists of many of the same musicians he used during his time as The Castanets and the band revolves around Ray's songwriting and rasping whispers just as The 'Nets did.
Where The White Freighter and Little Death Shaker do differ though is within the sound that inhabits this 15 song album. Another way this debut takes a tangent from Raposas Castanets material is within its lyrical content; the songs on this debut take a more narrative route than on previous Castanets albums where minimalism and what was left out of the lyrics was more important than what was in them.
That's the America Raposa inhabits in these songs, and it's the same place he's explored as the Castanets. Somehow it's comforting, if not exactly uplifting. Hope shines brightest in the darkest places. AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully. Blues Classical Country. Electronic Folk International. Jazz Latin New Age. Aggressive Bittersweet Druggy. Energetic Happy Hypnotic.
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