Dave McGraw & Mandy Fer – Off-Grid Lo-Fi

Every time I hear Dave McGraw and Mandy Fer’s music I mourn for the loss of so much music which could have been, for when I grew up few women were afforded the luxury of the electric guitar. At one time I thought it was a choice but after talking with many of the older female musicians I now think it was the culture. That old barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen attitude which has prevented so many cool things from happening. That old boys vision of the world, be it music or anything else. That off-the-cuff rejection of so many things based upon gender. Short-sightedness, thy name is human.

I mention this as I listen to McGraw and Fer’s latest album, Off-Grid Lo-Fi, because I am hearing creativity which more than likely would have been stifled back in the fifties, sixties and seventies and before and it seems so strange because it was so wide open back then, almost anyone with an instrument able to find an opportunity, or so it seemed. Unless you were female.  

Oh, they would let them sing but put a guitar in their hands? No. There were exceptions, of course— Mary Ford, Lorrie Collins (The Collins Kids), Sister Rosetta Tharpe and others— but they were pretty much brushed aside by the powers that existed at the time. The powers within the culture. In the music biz they used to call them tastemakers. I often wonder how different music would have been without them.

That is why I revel in the music of McGraw and Fer. There is something refreshing in their approaches to music and more than a bit of it lies in Fer’s guitar. I heard it in the first album of theirs I had heard— Seed of a Pine. (Read my review here) The music of Maritime reinforced it. (Read my review here) Off-Grid Lo-Fi takes it further.

They recorded it on a small island in the San Juans where they were, I believe, house sitting and making food runs in a small boat with a small engine. They recorded it purely with wind and solar power (electricity is not a luxury on many of those islands) and a lot of time on their hands. When I heard Off-Grid, I knew they had used both wisely.  

Let me explain that the Lo-Fi part of this album does not refer to the sound quality nor the excellence of songs. To myself, it is more the lack of amenities. I was once graced with the presence of Tom Mank and Sera Smolen playing in my living room. I had heard their albums (many times over) but sat amazed at the presence of the sound produced right in front of me minus PA system or amps or echo chambers. Just voice, cello (Sera is a master), and guitar. It was like I was hearing the music all over again for the first time. A whole ‘nother dimension, if you will. That’s the way I feel listening to Off-Grid. This is a McGraw-Fer combo I had never heard before. And it is stunning, thanks in no small part to its simplicity. Of the sound, that is. What they play is neither easy nor simple.

Take, for instance, Fer’s guitar tour-de-force, “Trainwreck.” McGraw eschews his guitar for congas (?) and Fer sets aside electric for acoustic guitar and it is what you might expect from the title— a wild run through a repertoire of guitar segments pieced together over a long period of time and fused into song. I found myself listening closely because of the ride, the adventure. The whole album is an adventure with a few songs I would have expected after having memorized the first two albums. “Creatures We Are” is classic McGraw-Fer, a song about their good fortune at having found one another, “Eggs For Honey” a solid rhythmic tune laid over a bedrock of acoustic rhythm banjo, “Change My Ways” a hauntingly beautiful and deep tune featuring McGraw’s lightly textured voice and Fer’s always spot-on electric guitar riffs. The rest stretch the boundaries they have lived within until now. All worth hearing for the nuances as well as the sound.

Off-Grid Lo-Fi is an excellent addition to the other albums the duo has recorded. As I expect from the best of the musicians I hear, they push the envelope here but not so far as to alienate fans of whom there appear to be many, though not as many as their music deserves. Do yourself a favor. Read the reviews highlighted earlier in this piece. Watch the videos. Listen to the music closely. After that, I will assume that you will soon catch them live. They are constantly touring and their show is excellent, at least the one I saw (Read the review here).  

My God! It looks like all I’m doing is plugging my own pieces. Trust me, it is not about my writing. It is about the music. And these guys play some of the best I have heard.  And they are two of the finest people I have ever met, too.  A bonus.