2015 – Bafe’s Factory
By Phillip Smith; Jan 23, 2016
Stat(u)e of Mind , Southpaw Steel ‘n’ Twang’s
fourteen track follow-up to their Hales
Pleasure Railway album, sports even more innovative instrumentals than its predecessor.
I love the way their music takes a step
off the beaten path to dissipate the boundary between Bluegrass and Jazz. This innovative trio from Helsinki, Finland consists of guitarist
Ville “Lefty” Leppänen (Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip), drummer
Tero Mikkonen, and bassist JP Mönkkönen. In September 2015, the band recorded Stat(u)e of Mind at Firebrand Recording Studio in St. Louis, Missouri, after accepting an
invitation to perform at the 2015 International Steel Guitar Convention.
Mikkonen
beautifully performs the opening song, “Gateway”, on ukulele. Clocking in at just a smidge over a minute in
length, this Hawaiian flavored appetizer makes for a lovely intro for the rest
of the album. Leppänen breaks out some fantastic swampy guitar licks on “Aloha
Garage”. This is one of my absolute
favorites. “Route 68” has a cool jazzy
character. Mikkonen and Mönkkönen
keep the rhythm hip as Leppänen lets
loose with an outstanding avant-garde performance. Leppänen
sets a melancholy mood for the lovely “Almost Too Beautiful” before taking me
by surprise with “Duel”. Without words,
this instrumental is still able to tell a story. The listener is marched in to this Latin
infused masterpiece with a flurry of spaghetti-western/surf guitar. The song takes an unexpected and marvelous
turn the moment the horns pop. This is
such a killer track. I like to think of the
closing song, “Sergio” as a fantastic tribute and homage to legendary film
director Sergio Leone and the man
who scored the lion’s share of his films, composer Ennio Morricone. The Morricone influence certainly shows.
It's really fresh to hear a band like Southpaw Steel ‘n’ Twang share
their unique brand of music and captivating compositions. Stat(u)e
of Mind is abundantly full of character and a delightful listen.
