Hunting Americana with The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company
NO DEPRESSION
Posted On October 26, 2013
A few weeks ago I posted about a guy called Teitur and how great it was to find Americana being sung in The Faroe Islands. Now comes a new album from The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company, a band that hails from Switzerland, somewhere between Lugano and Zürich.
The band’s latest offering is “The Big Hunt” and it is very good . It is a cross between Dylan-esque dirges and English folk-rock with just a tad – only a tad, I promise – of Indie. There is really nothing for an Americana fan to dislike and I suspect many will like it very much.
There is also nothing particularly Swiss about it, not an Alpenhorn or yodel to be found. Or at least so it would seem. John Robbiani, the band’s lead singer , reckons Americana is essentially European music-plus, Switzerland included. Asked how come a Swiss band chose to play the genre, he replied:
Sure, we draw inspiration from other American genres, but Americana was born out of folk and country, and country came from European rural tradition. From Ireland, England, Scotland – of course – but also from Italy (where did the mandolin originate from?), Germany and Switzerland.”
As I have been listening to their album over the past couple of weeks I have been taken by how much better they are than a number of better-known breakthrough bands, notably Mumford & Sons. I have nothing particular against the latter, it is just that there are many deserving the accolades more. I reckon The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company – said to be a cult in their homeland – are clearly one one them. Have a listen here and take a look below:
