Nathan- Jimson Weed (Nettwerk)
A

 Jimson weed is a hallucinogen and this album indeed offers a trip through desire and heartache, joy and happiness and doubt and pain via all sorts of internal monologues brought to life and set to music. Some may raise eyebrows at the ‘down home’ vibe, yet all is not what it seems. There’s a poetry and an ache in the keening pedal steel, twanging banjo and old-timey harmonies of these tunes, an ache that hints at deeper themes — a Wicked Witch looming darkly over a seeming romp through Wonderland. Feel for a moment the pain of the woman in Sunset Chaser, who imagines her abandoned lover working himself into a rage with a passion he never showed her. Or consider the notion of trying out all your life’s bad ideas at once because you can’t face the one good thing you’ve had (Bad Ideas). Jimson Weed is rife with these sorts of stories, which reveal themselves more with every listen. Treasure it, live with it and you will be rewarded.

John Kendle