The Felice Brothers

The Felice Brothers: No siempre feliz

Thursday, June 4th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | 2 Comments

Most modern Americana/bluegrass/folk music bores me—usually trained musicians regurgitating the same old licks without putting any real heart into it, or their own stamp for that matter. It can come off as soulless background noise, which seems impossible for a style of music that was built on flushing out emotions through instruments.

A friend of mine recently played me The Felice Brothers‘ latest record Yonder Is the Clock. I expected to tune it out by track two, instead the unorthodox arrangements and gritty production sucked me right in. Yonder Is the Clock is an uneven album, which is why it works—there’s always something unexpected in Ian Felice’s sordid tales, which are told through an array of sad piano waltzes and country stompers.

The Felice Brothers (Ian, Simone and James) really are brothers, raised in Palenville, N.Y., a small town of less than 1,200 located in the Catskills about 20 miles from Woodstock. They grew up listening to Bob Dylan and The Band, which they’ve been accused of aping. The influences are undoubtedly there. But the band spins more peculiar yarns and doesn’t shy away from experimenting with and twisting the roots of country and folk.

The Felice Brothers signed to Conor Oberst’s Team Love Records in 2008 and released their self-titled alum that same year. But live is where The Felice Brothers have made their names. In fact the group—which now includes members Christmas and Farley—started out busking in the New York City subway. Those days are long gone. The Felice Brothers are currently touring the States with labelmate Willy Mason, including a stop in Portland Sat., June 6 at the almighty, sleazy house of rock, Dante’s … which makes me like them even more.

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