The Accident That Led Me To The World

The Island Gospel

(Nobody's Favorite)

Record Review by Amber Henson

Don’t ask how this band got their name, because there’s no way I can explain it.  They can’t even explain it.  In a recent interview, lead guitar and vocalist Mark Mandeville gave a story that was rambling, and had something to do with an island.  Which I guess is why their second and most current album is titled as it is.  I, however, like the explanation made up by fans, which has to do with an unplanned pregnancy.  That makes more sense.

Regardless, that’s the name of the band and the music they make involves banjos, two voices, an upright base, and quite a few tales.  Raianne Richards is the other vocalist, though she also plays a ‘nylon string guitar’ (well, aren’t we fancy?) and my personal favorite of the wind instruments, the clarinet, though only for two songs.  Zack Ciras takes care of the upright bass.

Although I have trouble listening to banjos without thinking of the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (or, if it’s an upbeat banjo, Steve Martin), I was eventually able to relax into the world that TATLMTTW (that’s how the band refers to themselves on their website) had created for me.  This album is so stripped down, the recording sounds live.  Sometimes the songs fall into the cliché of a rainy day coffee shop performance, and sometimes Mandeville’s voice doesn’t quite hold up, but overall, the band comes across as a knowledgeable purveyor of folk music.

The stories they tell in the songs may be the musical equivalent of Debbie Downer, but they are told beautifully.  The words are often sung in long, drawn out syllables, and it is mainly Mandeville starting with Richards repeating.  There are no fast, upbeat songs, but a strange thing about this album is that even songs that go on for three or four minutes seem like they’re shorter.  My only explanation for this is that the songs stay fresh and intriguing, never repeating themselves.  And the lyrics keep you wondering.  I’ll leave you with my favorite: “I’ve packed my bags and gone insane.”