Long Goodbye reviews

[el topo]

Mojo magazine gave it four stars: "The Essex Green sound like a typical Elephant 6-related band--absolutely fantastic." They make a mistake and mention Jeff Baron as being in the band twice, and Chris Ziter not once, but otherwise that's pretty cool.

Has anyone seen any other reviews, other than the Pitchfork one?

[muskogee]

The Essex Green have made one of the most subversive records of the year. It’s easy to listen to, though not “easy listening�, and it takes you down all sorts of diverse paths once you get beneath the surface. It’s a big sounding record that keeps faith with its small-scale human vision. It’s presumably recorded on a modest budget but demonstrates that real vision can’t be constrained (or bought). It’s an independent record with universal appeal. When pop music is just another manufacturing and marketing exercise (5 gormless looking marionettes + formulaic ballad + cheesy dance routine + payola to teen mags and TV shows = 15 minutes of fame and a fortune to the puppeteer) this self-produced record draws from the time when pop music really was the soundtrack to our lives.
The album takes in all the sort of things playing on 60s and 70s radio: The Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, The Loving Spoonful, Buffalo Springfield, the Carpenters maybe….and then goes off in various directions: country, rock and psychedelia. Some of the tracks will sound familiar to fans of the Ladybug Transistor. The lovely By The Sea could have been on ‘Argyll Heir’ as Sasha Bell sweetly sings over keyboards and flute before it ends with a blast of 70s Southern boogie. Sorry River is a pastoral folky acoustic ballad, delicate and lovely. Our Lady of Havana strikes out in a Steely Dan direction, with a soaring chorus and cascading strings, full of evocative lyrics that paint a whole picture before your eyes: “And what if all the what ifs were a happy man?/you think our hands are tied but we pen the chapters every time�. Lazy Man sounds like one of Calexico’s desert rockers with Chris Ziter’s melancholy vocals adding to the country feel. Julia is a classic Glen Campbell sounding ballad, fragile with flute and acoustic guitar and Chartiers has an easy, strummed quality, with the most gorgeous, melodic, echoey chorus.

It’s a matter of taste but some of the songs are a bit too obvious. The Late Great Cassiopia outsweetens Fleetwood Mac while Old Dominion could be from a country and western musical with its choral effects. But that’s just a matter of taste. What no-one could doubt is the beauty of Sasha Bell’s vocals. The album highlights her high and silky voice that makes you think of Laura Cantrell or Emmylou Harris (for starters) for another vehicle so clear and pure that can carry such emotional charge. In a just world she and The Essex Green would be acclaimed for creating something so contemporary and so classy from classic elements. It’s the greatest Sunday morning record I’ve perhaps ever heard. Just like a Jimmy Webb song, it has a haunting quality that will make you return to it again and again.