Mumlers - Don't Throw Me Away

Don t Throw Me Away marks the release of The Mumlers second album onGalaxia Records. A sextet of kids chasing pure soul with whatever tools areat hand, The Mumlers hail from San Jose, California, a city not much knownfor its musical output but rather its diverse population and its status as an epicenterof the cyber world. Oddly enough, the tools they use are quirky and oldand the songs they create emanate from a place on the fringes of modernity,more in line with the forgotten oldies blasting from lowriders around theirhometown than with the flashing, disposable universe of the internet.Don t Throw Me Away disregards convention while embracing the unusual.A darker sound, washes of harmony, and sharp percussion set the newrecord apart from its predecessor, Thickets and Stitches, as tape machines, oldpreamps, vintage organs, and tremolo effects color the music. All songs werewritten by lead singer Will Sprott, whose favorite artist is Bobby Bland, anoften-underappreciated 50s and 60s soul singer from Tennessee. As such,soul is the closest genre that Don t Throw Me Away resembles, but even then,it s not a throwback or purely soul record of any sort. It s a tangle of influencesranging from blues to garage rock, country to jazz, and others.Guest percussionist Elias Reitz (Brightblack Morning Light and formersound-man for George Clinton) has an Indian percussion background andprovided the uncommon patterns on Coffin Factory. Other guests on the albuminclude Eric Perney (Tom Waits), Sarah Jo Zaharako (Gojogo), andLaura Coughlin (bass player Paolo Gomez s sister). And while the recordalso has galloping rhythms, switch-ups, and folky undertones, it still defieseasy categorization. Don t Throw Me Away is a clanging, clacking barrage ofdust and sound made by a young band that views labels as limiting.Thickets and Stitches, The Mumlers debut on Galaxia (who have releasedrecords by Black Heart Procession, Jason Molina, Will Oldham, DavidPajo, and many others over the past sixteen years), was widely acclaimed. Ithad touches of blues, folk, and country but it also had sound effects, noise,and imaginative lyrics that evoked dreams and despair and a certain romanticmelancholy.
 

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