New Age Americana | The New Students: Little Blue Dot (Independent / 30 August 2024)

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New Age Americana
The New Students: Little Blue Dot
(Independent / 30 August 2024)

Vocal harmonies and acoustic instruments create the Americana soundscape of The New Students, but it's a slot they fill with imagination. 

The New STudents AMericana band

They tell stories about dirt farmers and driving through Texas. From Black Earth Country:

You can take the boy from the plough and the field, J
But you can't take the hunger from his eyes

Americana gets a more modern treatment in tracks like Fly Home, a love song with a sense of place. 

Different vocalists add to the multi-textured tracks, along with a range of influences. In Whale Boy, a swingy syncopation tells a very modern story about fame eating a celebrity alive.

Traditionalists will be happy with tracks like Vermont Maple Candy, a love song to a slow country waltz, or the simple, stripped down approach of A Good Man Is Gone.

They tackle social issues, in the solid roots tradition, in songs like The Refugee, a beautiful four-part vocal a cappella piece, and Little Blue Dot.

The success of the New York based band's last album, 2020's Quarantunes, with their signature combination of contemporary folk and Americana with social commentary, lent impetus to the creation of this, their second release. 

The New STudents AMericana band

The band comments in a statement.

"This album has been percolating with us for a long time - we wrote one of the songs over a decade ago, some we've been playing live for a few years, and some are more recent."

It's clear they take inspiration from the golden age of folk from the 1960s and 70s, with an updated sense of urgency. 

"These songs speak to what we think are some of the universal concerns we all have on this little blue dot floating in space: fear for the future of our planet, the vanishing American Dream, love found and lost. We want to write songs that spread human empathy, but also make you want to sing along."

Personnel:

  • Briana Carlson-Goodman – Vocals
  • Justin Flagg – Vocals, Guitar, Banjo
  • Matthew Gelfer – Vocals, Fiddle, Mandolin, Guitar
  • Sam Gelfer – Bass
  • Beau Moore – Guitar, Mandolin
  • Paul Pearl – Drums

Tracklist:

  • 1. Black Earth Country
  • 2. Fly Home
  • 3. Farewell
  • 4. Whale Boy
  • 5. Madelena
  • 6. Greta's Song
  • 7. Vermont Maple Candy
  • 8. Jackson's Holler
  • 9. Today A Good Man Is Gone
  • 10. The Refugee
  • 11. Tell Me
  • 12. Little Blue Dot

Websites:

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