Lionlimb :: Shoo

Lionlimb-ShooShoo  is the debut album by Lionlimb, a duo comprised of singer-songwriter Stewart Bronaugh and drummer Joshua Jaeger. The band has a sleeper agent story: Bronaugh performed under the moniker back in 2010, bopped between Chicago and San Francisco, then linked up with Jaeger to record and tour with Angel Olsen for  Burn Your Fire For No Witness–all the while working on songs. The duo recorded  Shoo  with Robin Eaton while on break from Olsen’s tour in 2015. The songs were written over several years, the players have an affinity reinforced by years on the road, and, despite being built up from basic drum and piano arrangements,  Shoo  is a cohesive, powerfully vibey document. The foundation of the keyboards, Bronaugh’s vulnerable voice, and Jaeger’s highly melodic, jazzy drumming are expanded upon generously by electric pianos, whirring organs, thunking bass, and most notably flocks of saxophones that blend in and out of the fuzzy, wah-ing guitar lines. Every one of  Shoo‘s eleven songs is replete with melody–all those overdubs are put to the most dynamic use.

Lionlimb sites Miles Davis’  On the Corner, Jack London, Schumann, Elliot Smith, and Jackson Pollock–an eclectic yet telling range of influences. Bronaugh’s singing style makes the Smith reference somewhat obvious, and in most of the tracks his understated voice gets swathed in layers of keyboards and horns, blooming into a warm, enveloping maximalism not unlike that of ELO. Thankfully, Bronaugh’s writing doesn’t dwell on repeated lines or schlocky sing-song. These tunes are tautly composed, and the lyrics don’t settle along melodic earworms. Perhaps because there’s this ever-present sense of yearning with Lionlimb, in Bronaugh’s voice or the way a bed of reedy sounds flutter down upon a chorus. There’s often imagery of longing, hindsight, disconnect, failure, some little detail that triggers a memory, getting high, some insatiable need… On a Morricone-inflected “Ride,” he sings “wearing the suits of misfortune/ I moved through her ruined years,” and “if I ride, I’ll ride forever.” In “Tinman” we get “come be lavish for me, I have the words you need/ but if this tongue should fail me, I would still taste you…”  Shoo‘s penultimate track, “Just Because,” closes with the line, “Why can’t I just go? My baby’s got me lookin’ back forever.”

Lionlimb :: Ride

Even the group’s name contains some drama of fragmentation: Lionlimb–a mere appendage of a regal, powerful creature, not even its essence, like the head of a lion on a chimera. Bronaugh’s evocative line drawing that adorns the album cover hints at something distant and twisted, familiar but alien. “Wide Bed” grooves like slowly plopping raindrops, sustained piano crowned by harmonized saxophones that call to mind some spaced out Miles–or perhaps a floating, Science Fiction era Ornette arrangement. But that’s the charm of  Shoo–it calls to mind much wonderful, disparate music, synthesized into a present, earnest rock band with a liberal dose of saxophone. Fans of sax in rock will be pleased to know that the Lionlimb live band features a dedicated horn man throughout–a scrappier but no less fun manifestation of these memorable tunes. words / a spoto

Lionlimb :: Tinman

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