Rough Skeletons - Experimental Redneck

By: David Ball

Rough Skeletons
Experimental Redneck

(Indie)

SOUNDS LIKE: Throwback rock and splashes of spacey folk-pop, sometimes with the reverb turned to 11.

WHY/WHY NOT: Just when you thought indie rock was getting a little boring, along comes Rough Skeletons’ Experimental Redneck to save the day. What began in 2007 as an indulgent two-man side project for Purple Hill’s (Toronto-based roots rock band) singer-songwriter Owen Marchildon and guitarist/sound effects wizard Paul Shepherd has evolved into something more focused and satisfying than what we heard on their maddeningly schizoid, but fun, debut. The duo’s second release offers up 11 finely crafted works of wondrous dream pop, re-imagined Loaded-era Velvet Underground and Dylan-inspired folk. Marchildon is a wonderfully weird storyteller, his most powerful attribute is his passionate versatile voice, conjuring both Lou Reed on the excellent garage rocker "Dreamstate To The Streets" and early '70s lonesome country of "That Beautiful Light". But his constantly shifting falsetto also adds melancholic textures to the LP's many psychedelic folk jaunts, in particular the haunting, "Taking a Knife".

The skillfully recorded self-produced low-budgeter runs a hefty 52-minutes, but enduring the entire trip is well worth it; it offers plenty of tasty treats along the way.