I’m happy to say that I had the pleasure of reviewing The Civil Wars thanks to a recommendation by a good friend.  This group was a stark contrast to the dynamic and full band sound of Lydia (whom I reviewed in the first week of this series).  It was a good contrast, though.  Very stripped down and “naked” sounding.

To start off, this particular album is titled “Live at Eddie’s Attic”, where the album was recorded during a live performance.  The Civil Wars consist of Joy Williams and John Paul White, both successful independent of each other as musicians.  The majority of their music is acoustic guitar and vocals, with the occasional piano.  They have a very basic and almost simple sounding foundation built around John’s acoustic guitar.  If you enjoy listening to Over the Rhine, you’ll probably like The Civil Wars.  If you’d like to listen to the tracks, you can go to NoiseTrade.com or The Civil Wars MySpace page and click on the album cover to download if for free.

Overall, the sound is somewhat folky with a little country or americana influence at times.  The opening track has a haunting feel to it vocally.  The sweeping harmonies are one of the things that first stood along with the tracks not being over produced or polished.  They really do a good job letting their talent show through without the assistance of more instruments or programming.

One of the bigger tracks on this album is the single titled “Poison & Wine”.  This track was also featured on Grey’s Anatomy, episode 609, “New History”.  It starts out with a simple strumming acoustic and backing piano, while Joy and John go back and forth lyrically before joining together for a great sounding harmony at the hook of the song.  The way they interact in this track really helps to portray the tension of the song. After that, it continues to build and return to that original hook.  You can check out the official music video for “Poison & Wine” on YouTube.  The album version of the song has more dynamics to it as they include some subtle snare and kick drum in the background of the track to help add to its old-time feel.  There is a huge, boomy kick drum that along with the snare sound miles away.

Another interesting track from their live album is “No Ordinary Love”.  It’s a bit more driving than the other tracks on the album.  The slightly quicker tempo and the harmonies and  vocals help give the listener a sense of angst or suspense.  Joy’s voice is well suited for pairing with John’s vocals and guitar.  Neither of them would stand on their own in this genre quite as well as they do together.  Joy Williams does great on piano and vocals alone, and John can certainly write and perform solo acoustically, but their pairing lends an almost palpable stress and tension between the two that makes it even more interesting to listen to.  Their work together feels and sounds real and true.  Not like a pre-packaged product for sale.

These two artists are obviously capable of a nice range of style inside of the acoustic genre.  I’d be interested to see them perform live with a full band.  Check out the links below to find out more about The Civil Wars and listen to their music.  Don’t forget to go to NoiseTrade.com and download the live album for free (or by paying whatever you feel).

The Civil Wars MySpace

The Civil Wars Facebook page

The Civil Wars on Twitter

The Civil Wars on YouTube

Thanks for reading.  I’m enjoying listening to some new music and getting to know some new artists.  Looking forward to the coming weeks of this review series.

Cheers,

Josh Walker