Mike Tod’s California Folk Journey
The California Recordings is an intriguing slice of lo-fi indie-folk from Calgary-based songwriter and folk traveler Mike Todd. It’s the result of Tod’s travels through the wooded hinterlands of Northern California in summer 2012, and it’s the results of one afternoon spent in front of a recorder with just his voice, a guitar, and some lovely backing vocals from friend Alyssa Jean Gardner. It’s beautifully simple stripped-back folk music, with lyrics that gently ruminate on his travels and thoughts. Used to be this kind of lo-fi folk was a lot more common, but I guess we’re moving into an era of more heavily produced, deep harmonized, hand-clapped folk anthems from groups like The Head and the Heart and Mumford & Sons. I like both those groups, but I’m struggling now to remember any of their songs. Mike Todd’s more in
the vein of The Lumineers, who understand that folk songs were made for singing along. He’s at his best on this release when he’s playing with folk idioms, not exactly subverting them, more like turning them over and over and admiring them. The best song is his truly lovely take on the classic “Inch by Inch.”
There’s a lot to this album and it certainly deserves repeated listens. And I hope that this is the prelude to a more produced album that can explore more of Tod’s muse. He’s certainly got a lot of room to move from here. And on a final note, everything about this album reminds me of Northern California. I was born in California and raised in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and I miss my old home a lot. I can’t really describe how he does it, but somehow Tod’s managed to tap into the red-dirt and Ponderosa pines of my home to dig up music that sounds perfectly at ease on the banks of the Yuba River. I love that most of all about this album.
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Link to The California Recordings Band Camp Page
photo by Sarah BR.
This post originally appeared on the Hearth Music Blog. Check out our website and roam through our blog to discover your next favorite artist! We’re dedicated to presenting today’s best Roots/Americana/World musicians.
