Skygreen Leopards - Disciples of California

  by Andrew Carver

published: 7 / 11 / 2006

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Review

Anyone approaching Skygreen Leopards’ latest album through its members’ back catalogues may be surprised by how normal it sounds. Glenn Donaldson and Donovan Quinn have a substantial body of fringe music to their credit. Donaldson has recorded as part of found-sound experimental folk improv group Thuja, folk soundscape artists the Blithe Sons and others, while Quinn’s work with Verdue is a famously ramshackle and crackpot approach to the folk genre. Perhaps the recent addition of drummer Jasmyn Wong, also of breathy San Francisco folk group Jean-Marie and bassist Shayde Sartin (who has worked with psyche pop whiz Kelley Stoltz and folk magi Wooden Wand) has turned the founding duo closer to the mainstream. The listener will find none of Thuja’s sprawl - ‘Disciples of California’ neatly tucks 11 songs into 35 minutes of sweet, easygoing folk-pop. Verdue’s wilful ignorance of timing has been supplanted by Wong and Sartin’s simple walking rhythms. Donaldson and Quinn trade off between a drowsy drawl and a boyish tenor, and their catchy melodies and harmonies make for a very pleasant listen. The jangling intro to the title track would sit happily on a Byrds album, and the addition of pedal steel on three tracks further heightens the resemblance. The band’s dreamy style is a close kin to that of Monroe Mustang, another Jagjaguwar signing. The band saves most of the peculiarity for the lyrics, which blend a parade of summer-of-love characters with an apocalyptic undercurrent. 'Disciples of California’ is a very good album that should appeal to a wide range of listeners, be they fans of freak-folk, country rock, psych pop or singer-songwriters.

Track Listing:-

1 Disciples of California
2 Places West of Shawnapee
3 Sally Orchid
4 Egyptian Circus
5 Marching Band
6 William & the Sacred Hammer
7 Golden Pilgrim
8 Jesus Was Californian
9 I Remember Sally Orchid
10 Silvery Branches
11 Hollow Tree