Jeb Loy Nichols – Lovers Knot

From the opening rhythmic vibe that bursts into a New Orleans funeral-march horn section, it’s apparent that what follows is not your average singer-songwriter fare. Maybe it is the voice — a resonant, nasal, keening, disarming warble that’s inclusive of a hundred years of recorded music. Deeper than it seems on the surface, it descends to a subconscious level occupied by ancient blues singers and classic soul, Depression-era dust bowl folk, and Appalachian mountain melodies.

Nichols did his musical apprenticeship in New York and London among the reggae and dance scenes that included friends such as Neneh Cherry and Adrian Sherwood. He released a few albums of strange dub-country with a group called the Fellow Travelers. While it’s doubtful anything here will see a dub remix version (though “Dark Hollow” has a pretty thumping groove already), Lovers Knot is still a stylistic jaw-dropper, highlighted by the Stax/Volt soul of “Quickly Into Trouble”, the funky Delta blues of “As The Rain”, and the layered slap-and-trickle beats of “Yesterday’s A Long Time Ago”, which sounds like a collaboration between Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. “Quickly Into Trouble” wouldn’t sound out of place on an Al Green record; “Wipe Away A Million Tears” is a beautiful country ballad.

Jeb Loy Nichols’ songs deal with the specific rather than the grandiose, taking small pleasures in the details. “Our Good Good Thing (Just Gets Better)” is a soulful plea for forgiveness, and when the narrator intones, “All this talk won’t stop the clock, and that sleepy look in your eyes says it’s time for bed,” the daily struggle to be civil to the one you love is laid bare. As the song’s title suggests, faith pulls him through in the end. For Jeb Loy Nichols, such faith in his own instincts and an aversion to artistic stereotypes has resulted in a marvelous album.