Fellaheen

The review pages of americana-uk have been suffering from a lack of originality recently. Not a lack of quality you understand, just a harkening to the past surrounding the latest releases as we await the beginning of spring. So it is with a refreshing quickening of the pulse that we bring you Fellaheen.

Fellaheen, or Bruce Hanson as he is known to his nearest and dearest isn’t even a new face on the scene. Six albums in and he’s still knocking out moody bar room blues fused with surreal jazz held together with whisky soaked gypsy hellfire lyrics to die young to. This is how it’s supposed to be, all ye pretenders to the throne. And Bruce does it all from his home studio, with a few mates, and it oozes class, it really does.

That might not be big news in this digital era of self-released music, but it’s still a rare treat to hear raw, soulful, alt-country sound so original and pleasantly beat-up when produced this way. Fellaheen belong to no-one and everyone and as the name suggests, is a nomadic beast. Just as likely to perform at your nephew’s fourth birthday party as a Vegas strip joint, the music doesn’t create a mood, it is a mood. And it will express itself when and where it pleases. - Americana UK

Fellaheen — Death & Frolic (EGADS Music)

There is weirdness emanating out of Hightstown, New Jersey, and its name is Bruce Hanson. Armed with oddball, semibrilliant compositions containing humor, verve, alacrity,mysteriousness and a deep abiding reverence for such influencing fellow oddballs as Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa,CaptainBeefheart and Alfred Hitchcock, Hanson has independently unleashed the seventh albumof Fellaheen,
Death & Frolic.
Joe Borthwick on upright bass, Mark Orlandini on drums, Dan Trent on guitar/dulcimer and Kerry Watson on drums/percussion help provide the dreamy soundscapes, but it’s Hanson’s show. He wrote it, sings it, produced it and plays guitar, keyboards, banjo and percussion.
Sometimes the songs play out as a cinematic noir soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. Hanson plays the world-weary, self-destructive private dick hellbent on solving the vicissitudes of his own psyche. “Oath” goes jazz with an avant-garde saxophone as Hanson whisper-sings his eternal findings like Bob Dylan on Quaaludes. Somehow, it’s all so European. And just like how Leonard Cohen’s voice is often caressed by soothing female harmonics, Hanson’s is surrounded by atmospheric niceties that keep his gruffness and idiosyncratic individuality in check. Heady stuff: quirky, memorable, loaded with an intangible something not quite definable but catchy enough to make you want to keep returning to it.
In A Word: Special
—Mike Greenblatt - Aquarian Weekly

Beautifully eerie and mellow, infused with a serenely smoky’n’sulky atmosphere, further enriched by an entrancingly jazzy and laid-back sound, this marvelously moody album positively drips with a profound sense of despair, ennui, and unfulfilled yearning that’s truly something to hear. The whispery raspy vocals project a ghostly feeling of weariness and melancholy while the calmly harmonic arrangements offer a flavorsome array of swirling strings, remorselessly trudging drums, gently strummed guitars, and subdued, yet seething basslines. This is the kind of divinely brooding music that conjures up vivid images of darkness slowly overtaking the fading daylight while gray clouds gather in the sky and a sad moon rises above the bleak horizon. Astonishing stuff.
—Joe Wawrzyniak - Jersey Beat

It's one thing to get a nice disc from someone you hadn't heard of. It's quite another to throw on a CD from an unknown and realize there is some really substantial talent at work. Such is the case with Fellaheen, the brainchild of Bruce Hanson, whose music seems to rest in an enjoyable bit of turf between The Jesus And Mary Chain, Nada Surf, the latter day Replacements and Sparklehorse. The guy just oozes simple and unforgettable melodies and places them in a winning mix of contexts. Hanson also has a raspy voice reminiscent of Daniel (Love & Rockets) Ash, which gives the tracks a tossed off decadence. I'd bet that Ash would like to claim "Cold Green Tea" as one of his own. It's a basic mid-tempo slammer, with a nifty lead guitar part that goes up and down like a country fair roller coaster and some cool backing vocals. "Harry Sez Hi" shows that Hanson can pull off a less stylized rocker – this comes off between The Rolling Stones and The Velvet Underground (and really reminds me of The Dancing Hoods, but does anyone remember them?). While these big rockers are immediate, Hanson has quite a few other tricks up his sleeve. "Oswald's Dirge" is an appropriately titled tune – a way-too-short folk-blues with this great opening: "you are dead/death's a slut/falls in bed/with anyone." This doomy mood is explored again on the striking "Unrealized", which is melodically similar to Tom Waits. Hanson's production and the arrangement give this track a real nightmarish feel. The most sinister track, however is "Record Collector", which makes a geeky hobby come off like a Clive Barker novel – the coiled menace of the verses is beaten into submission by the explosive choruses. Awesome song. This is a very good album. - Fufkin.com

Slimy, brutal and greasy can be great compliments when you're talking about raw sounding music, and Fellaheen is all of that and more. Bruce Hanson has a cigarette-scored vocal reminiscent of Paul Westerberg, and both "Studio Blue World" and the opening track sound like a Mats classic with a Byrds twist. Hanson's one-man band succeeds in tribal exorcisms (the creepy "Record Collector"), garage psychedelia ("Cold Green Tea"), and sparse Americana ("Fall", "Secondand") with equal skill. Love the lyrics throughout; great imagery alongside some soul-baring episodes, with just the right sense of humor and the macabre. "Harry Says Hi" is especially strange, weaving the sonic influences of Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, Harry Smith and others into a warped tribute. Fellaheen has much more than just the album title of the year going for it. --Bill Holmes - Pop Culture Press

Busking For Karma — Fellaheen (Egads Music, 2003) Armed with an uncanny (and unfair) sense of melody, Bruce Hanson (the man that is the band Fellaheen) has given us a grand follow-up to last year's Dispatches From Quarantine with Busking For Karma. While he wears his influences on his sleeve, quoting The Replacements' "Favorite Thing" in the opening burst of radiant sonic colors called "What The Last Five Minutes Have Taught Me," recreating with frightening authenticity the sound of Big Star in its death rattle and nodding to Morphine with "Secondhand," he weaves all of these elements into a final product that is seamless and fresh.
Along the way there are complete and incomplete thoughts, each of them ready to rise up and walk away from the would-be grooves of the album, living with impossible vibrancy. The complete ones include the one that announces a broken heart has finally mended in "Studio Blue World," the one that's spoken to mend the heart of another ("Fall") and the one that lends good advice ("Set Your House In Order"), while the incomplete include the colorfully unsettling "Oswald's Dirge" and the fascinating "Record Collector."
There's even time along the way for Hanson to whip up a little T. Rex-style swagger ("Cold Green Tea"), have a little bit of fun while sounding like he's having a kind of crack up ("Harry Says Hi") and to make sure that you come back again. You will. And next time, believe you me, you'll bring some friends.
—Jedd Beaudoin - F5 Wichita

Fellaheen
The Excommunicate's Canzonet

By Jennifer Layton, Indie-Music.com

In the press kit, Fellaheen’s Bruce Hanson writes that this CD has a good beat, and you can brood to it. You can also be a bit spooked and shaken by it, and if you let yourself get drawn into it and find that you can stop playing it, you can expect friends and loved ones to stop in from the real world and ask with genuine concern if everything is OK.

Trippy, dark, and rumbling like a clumsily approaching lumbering monster waving a bong, The Excommunicate’s Canzonet will shroud you in storm clouds and blow your mind. Lou Reed would get high to this. Tim Burton would write an animated movie to go with this soundtrack. Johnny Depp would be too spooked to lend his voice to it. And in the case of scatty tracks such as “Like Zero,” Gary Numan and the Psychedelic Furs would do a cover and ponder such great images as:

I wanna get myself a clock that does whatever I say
When I say ‘slow down’ it’ll crawl
So that a minute’s a day
And I’ll be able to see the things I missed
When the time really flew ...

The humor behind the CD title is that a canonzet is a short, lighthearted song. If you consider ominous, occasionally punk, often growled and whispered progressive rock to be lighthearted, there is way too much stress in your life. But immersing yourself in this darkly swirling (and highly intellectual and literate) music is not a bad way to channel your darker energies. Hypnotic and psychedelic, equal parts Monty Python and Captain Beefheart (with a little Frank Zappa stumbling in), this CD is a wild ride. Once the room stops spinning, I want to see where Bruce and Crew will take me next. - Indie-Music.com

Slimy, brutal and greasy can be great compliments when you're talking about raw sounding music, and Fellaheen is all of that and more. Bruce Hanson has a cigarette-scored vocal reminiscent of Paul Westerberg, and both "Studio Blue World" and the opening track sound like a Mats classic with a Byrds twist. Hanson's one-man band succeeds in tribal exorcisms (the creepy "Record Collector"), garage psychedelia ("Cold Green Tea"), and sparse Americana ("Fall", "Secondand") with equal skill. Love the lyrics throughout; great imagery alongside some soul-baring episodes, with just the right sense of humor and the macabre. "Harry Says Hi" is especially strange, weaving the sonic influences of Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, Harry Smith and others into a warped tribute. Fellaheen has much more than just the album title of the year going for it. --Bill Holmes - Pop Culture Press

Fellaheen -- The Excommunicate's Canzonet (Egads)

By Mike Bennett
Fufkin.com

The third album from this Bruce Hanson project moves into a less rock and more psychedelic direction. On the first two Fellaheen records, Hanson sounded like an American analog of groups like Love & Rockets and The Jesus and Mary Chain. There is still a bit of that vibe going on here and there, but a lot of the music here is earthier and spookier. On a few tracks, he ventures into Tom Waits territory. This is at turns kind of dreamy, in a nightmarish sort of way ("My Machine"), and bluesy ("That Thing Up on the Wall"). What is impressive is that these forays into different sounds come off as very natural and blend well with the few songs that are more consistent with the prior albums. The few rockers are rays of sunshine amidst the cool murk, the best coming on "Tricks of Light", which has a ton of guitar firepower and a great lead guitar line hook that strings throughout the entire song. Still, atmosphere dominates the record, but even when Hanson mellows out, as on the slow Western waltz of "Don't", there's a grimacing intensity that is comparable to some of the latter day work of The The. A fascinating and involving piece of work. - Fufkin.com

FELLAHEEN - Yours For the Revolution — Handy dandy multi-genre music albums are always fun to listen to. You just gotta admire the ambition, ingenuity and imagination at work. Well, this fine outing skillfully blends elements of moody jazz, gritty blues, and melodic alternative rock into a fresh, compelling and harmonic synthesis. The cool, raspy vocals likewise hit the soulful spot. Ditto the quirky, yet incisive lyrics. The arrangements are appropriately brooding and mellow. Best of all, there's a hypnotic smoky atmosphere evident throughout which adds immensely to the overall sonic richness of this excellent and inspired oddball pip. - Joe Wawyrnizak, Jersey Beat Magazine - Jersey Beat