You gotta give it to them: Anti- has a knack for signing artists with a unique voice.
Whether is Tom Waits or William Elliott Whitmore, they’ve managed to grab hold of personalities that truly offer some imagination to the general singer-songwriter category.
Jolie Holland is among one of my favorites, where her odd warble and emotive narratives seem to tumble without effort and, unlike kindred Lucinda Williams, I never wonder if she’s ever drunk when she records. She always seems to be “on.”
And she’s back with a new album, deliciously titled “Pint of Blood” [passes out], due June 28.
The first offering of 10 from this fifth full-length is “Gold and Yellow,” sentimental in its motorcycle jackets and tears and “ashes to ashes.” Nothing you can’t handle, princess. The sound is very warm, very much live, and recorded out of Holland’s home studio with Shahzad Ismaily. Ismaily helped helm Holland’s last 2008 album, as well as material from Doveman, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and my pretend boyfriend Sam Amidon.
[Track after the jump…]