Oil Tan Bow

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
Douglas September is a young artist who pens and performs songs with the sophistication and sensibility of an old hand. At 25 years old, September nonetheless has the even, slightly raspy voice of a man twice his age, and a penchant for styles of music that harken back 20 or 30 years.

That’s not to say that September is retro. On the contrary, his folk-influenced rock tunes are quite contemporary, and would play well on modern rock format radio. He gets a solid, classic sound though, with arrangements and lyrics that suggest, perhaps, the work of Bob Dylan or Tim Buckley.

September found his way into the recording studio largely under his own power. He self-published his 1997 debut recording “Crows”, which was a small success for him. Around the same time, he visited the South By Southwest (SXSW) music conference in Austin, Texas, a major spawning ground for new bands. While in Austin, September played a gig at a small club where he was heard by former Santana drummer and Samson Music executive Michael Shrieve. September’s “straight to the heart” quality impressed Shrieve enough for him to offer a record contract, which ultimately resulted in “Ten Bulls” and “io” on Samson Music. [Although Samson has since changed musical directions to become a smooth jazz label, the critically lauded releases (“blood on the tracks for the new millennium” The Gavin Report) enabled September to establish himself as an artist to watch].

September’s songs are heavy on the poetry, the lyrics showing strong literary as well as musical influence. The words wash over a range of heartfelt subjects, including love, loss, beauty and other broad strokes of poetic statement and social commentary.

The Daily Freeman: Kingston, NY

Album Description
An eclectic blend of alternative/roots music, featuring guitars, accordion, shortwave radios, ambient loops, from one of the most innovative contemporary singer-songwriters on the scene today.

Tracks:

Ol' Stray Dog
Why Don't It Move
Oil Tan Bow
Message In The Wine
Makin' Biscuits
Girl From The North Country
Rat Rage
The Professor
Trouble
Yessir, That's My Baby
Goin' Home
I Ain't Got No Home
If I Go Down Take Your Bullet Back
Wild Mountain Thyme
Two Dollar Mudder (On a Dry Track)
When I Die (All My Troubles Can Stay)

Album Description

OIL TAN BOW, the latest cd from Canadian singer-songwriter Douglas September is a collection of songs which defy description. Combining delta blues, dust bowl balladeering, shortwave/techno-fizz, and aural collage experimentation with a literary element suggestive of William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Harpo Marx and the 21st century sensibilities of Jonathan Lethem, OIL TAN BOW represents a reinvention of roots music.

Teamed with guitarist and long-time collaborator Robby Aceto and looping/remix guru David Torn (SPLaTTeRCeLL), Douglas September's songs take on angular, unexpected shapes; fusing gritty vintage guitar tones with nutty digital distortion and lo-fi loops. Robby Aceto's elegant guitar work - abetted by Torn's highly inventive rule-breaking production style provide a perfect setting for the centerpiece of this recording; namely September's incredible voice.

On tracks like “Old Stray Dog”, he sings as though he were channelling someone's crazed grandpappy. At the same time, he is capable of emoting the most subtle unashamed honesty as he does in his version of the classic traditional Scots ballad, “Wild Mountain Thyme”. From the disturbing hobo noir of “Why Don't It Move?” to his desperately beautiful rendering of “Girl From the North Country”, September's spare and unadorned vocals draw the listener into a world of deep emotional complexity.

Recorded for the most part live at Torn's CeLL Labs Studio, small snippets of September's bizarre home-brewed musical pastiche are interspersed throughout the cd, creating a compelling window on the good man in a hard place psyche of a post-industrial vagabond. OIL TAN BOW adventures deep into the internal territories which have also been explored by admitted heroes Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart, and poet Arthur Rimbaud. Much like the atmosphere of the fictions that frame the music, OIL TAN BOW is a work which demands repeated immersions into its complete and finely crafted dark universe.

Average customer rating:
Oil Tan Bow
Douglas September
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
General | Folk | Styles | Music
General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005S0OJ
Release Date: 2001-10-04