Sun Jul 18, 2010 5:24 pm
Phila. Inquirer review
Marah
Life Is a Problem
(Valley Farm Songs ***)
"Angels of self-destruction, is more like it," was the quip going around town back in 2008 when Marah followed the release of their last album, Angels of Destruction , by almost immediately breaking into pieces, with Serge Bielanko heading to Utah to raise a family and an umpteenth rhythm section discarded along the roadside. Serge's brother Dave Bielanko carried on, however, with keyboard player Christine Smith now playing the chief collaborative role.
And while Life Is A Problem may therefore seem like a mere half of a Marah record, with Serge still on sabbatical - it in fact sounds like a whole one, albeit with a more folk and keyboard-flavored bent than previous hell-raising rock-and-roll affairs such as 2000's much-loved Kids In Philly, which Dave here refers to as "my old albatross." Recorded in a Lancaster County barn and self-released - digitally, on vinyl and cassette, but not CD - Life Is a Problem still has that woozy, verbose, cockeyed street-poet swagger, with an unfinished quality on the likes of "Valley Farm Song" and "Bright Morning Stars" that masks the seriousness of the songwriting.
- Dan DeLuca
Life Is a Problem
(Valley Farm Songs ***)
"Angels of self-destruction, is more like it," was the quip going around town back in 2008 when Marah followed the release of their last album, Angels of Destruction , by almost immediately breaking into pieces, with Serge Bielanko heading to Utah to raise a family and an umpteenth rhythm section discarded along the roadside. Serge's brother Dave Bielanko carried on, however, with keyboard player Christine Smith now playing the chief collaborative role.
And while Life Is A Problem may therefore seem like a mere half of a Marah record, with Serge still on sabbatical - it in fact sounds like a whole one, albeit with a more folk and keyboard-flavored bent than previous hell-raising rock-and-roll affairs such as 2000's much-loved Kids In Philly, which Dave here refers to as "my old albatross." Recorded in a Lancaster County barn and self-released - digitally, on vinyl and cassette, but not CD - Life Is a Problem still has that woozy, verbose, cockeyed street-poet swagger, with an unfinished quality on the likes of "Valley Farm Song" and "Bright Morning Stars" that masks the seriousness of the songwriting.
- Dan DeLuca