Mile Twelve - Close Enough To Hear

Self-released

****1/2

Mile Twelve is a Boston/Nashville string quintet with a unique approach to bluegrass. Like so many young bands, they are music school kids who learned their craft in the university environment. They play at a high level of technical precision and learned their bluegrass the usual way. Like many aspiring pickers their age, they have grown up on the sounds of Punch Brothers and other more progressive acoustic artists, who use the bluegrass ensemble to write and interpret songs that might draw the attention of a wider audience of music lovers. A record that feels dynamic and vital—while still respecting the band’s legacy so far—with this third album there’s something about their sound that’s really different. When you hear them play it sounds very familiar, but then you realise it’s like nothing you’ve ever heard before. It’s at least partially due to the fact that they’re unafraid to inject their own prowess and personality into the proceedings. Founder members Evan Murphy (acoustic guitar), BB Bowness (banjo), Nate Sabat (upright bass) alongside new members Ella Jordan (fiddle) and Korey Brodsky (mandolin), are obviously adept at playing their instrumental arrangements, but it’s the mix of melodies that allow these songs to stand out. There are a lot of sonic ingredients involved on a record that captures all of the excitement and intuitive musicianship of a group at the peak of their creative powers, with ten new tracks that reveal a depth and maturity only previously hinted at.

There are compelling stories scattered throughout this set. Light Of Angels is a complex, even elusive, and at least in part oblique, take on abuse and the brutal way in which the abuser is dealt with. A light guitar driven melody with a soft, but convincing vocal paints a dark, horror story enhanced with haunting fiddle, hypnotic plucked banjo and finely-chopped mandolin rhythmic percussion. The fictious Johnny Oklahoma, could easily pass for a passed-down folk tale. A young lad who volunteers to be a human cannonball, the lyrics pay tribute to all of those brave individuals, who over time have become local or national legends. Rather unusual, and definitely not within the usual bluegrass lyric tradition, Romulus, a toe-tapping banjo-fiddle bluegrass romp, uses the mythical story of the brothers who founded Rome to question the meaning and purpose of our own existence and does our life amount to anything significant after we’re gone.

They take a more straightforward route with Anywhere Town, an acoustic track of life on the road that should resonate with all travellers who’ve woken up in a strange bed and wondered where they are. It’s an enchanting fever dream that grabs you and won’t let go, with Ella’s fiddle swimming round and round in your befuddled mind. Powerful harmonies (that are equally powerful on their own) come together to make beautiful music on the a capella opening of If Only, with a series of lyrical couplets, which pose the questions of ‘what if …’  with Korey’s mandolin and Evan’s guitar providing the spare musical accompaniment.  The rest of the album follows suit with a slew of tantalising delights. Hopping Around Telluride, a glorious instrumental, that puts each of these talented pickers front and centre. The jazzy sound of Red Grapes On The Vine, or the upbeat attitude found in Take Me as I Am and the more reflective title tune. Mile Twelve create music-without-borders with particularly convincing interpretations.  This album is more than a success, it is a triumph for this group of young, talented musicians … contemporary bluegrass at its very best.

www.miletwelveband.com

January 2023