Search - David Grubbs & Wingdale Community Singers :: David Grubbs Presents the Wingdale Community Singe

Whatever "Lit Folk Rock is - "The Wingdale Community Singers

Jana L. Perskie | New York, NY USA | 07/06/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"WOW! Wow! Wow!!! I truly wonder that I am the first person to review this outstanding CD. It was released almost 2 months ago! Does anyone out there know about "The Wingdale Community Singers" yet? Granted, their name is not exactly a household word...but it will be soon. Fortunately, (for me, some folks may feel otherwise), I live in Manhattan and I recently got to hear this fantastic group live - in a bookstore, of all places! But that makes sense given the nature of the group's three members, who just happen to hail from Brooklyn. Author Rick Moody, ("The Ice Storm," Purple America," etc.), recently joined folk-rock singers/songwriters Hannah Marcus and David Grubbs. They have created an extraordinary urban folk sound, with gritty, sometimes poignant, occasionally cynical, often humorous lyrics, and soulful country/bluegrass melodies. These are songs about life in Brooklyn - bike shop employees, stray dogs, subway tracks, transvestites, ("Fish Net Stockings"), pawn shops and store front arson, and local rats on the tracks - the 4-legged kind with tails!! "Holy Virgin Star" is just plain beautiful. "Bigger Ocean" and ""Family Plot, Mayfield Kentucky," are sad, bleak ballads, but are among my favorite cuts.



If you're thinking "huh?" Take a listen to some of the sample tracks.



Marcus's magnificent vocals are the album's centerpiece - her's is a pure clear sound, lush and totally feminine. Grubbs' baritone and plaintive acoustic guitar, along with his musical arrangements, present the songs' subjects in a vulnerable and appealing light. In fact Grubbs provides most of the minimalist instrumentation - keyboards, piano, banjo along with guitar. The songwriting is extraordinary, and this level of excellence is the element which most unites the 15 tracks. Literary folk/rock - so they say it's called. Hannah Marcus comments, tongue in cheek: "Yeah, we're surfing the tide of literary rock until it gives out. I'm hoping to send my seven adopted children of all races to good schools all over the world." Now, I don't know what "lit rock" is...but I know good when I hear it!



Rick Moody, (I am a major fan of his writing - novels and short stories), is quoted: "I guess I wrote most of the lyrics on the Wingdales album. Probably three-quarters of the lyrics. Hannah and Dave are both great lyricists, as you can see on their self-composed numbers. But I had an idea about how to make lyrics in the old-timey sort of way: Really fast, with few revisions, and without looking back. So we wrote lyrics kind of like we were out in the woods, but we wrote them about Brooklyn and people we knew. Well, except for Dave's song, which is about Kentucky."



Hannah, Rick and David are joined by Tony Maimone, Rebecca Moore, Kurt Hoffman, and many others who helped to make this the wonderful CD it is. Again, listen to some of the samples. I play this album a lot, and highly recommend it!

JANA"

The Best Folk Music Coming Out of Brooklyn Now

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 07/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Even if the Wingdale Community Singers didn't include a famous author as one of its members, its CD debut would still be recognized as intelligent, truly accessible, urban folk music from dimly lit streets and alleys of Brooklyn, NY. The lyrics and music conjur up an almost surreal urban realm realized in pictures by the likes of Gregory Crewdson, Bruce Gilden and Jeff Mermelstein, among others. Though blessed with superb lyrics from eminent American writer Rick Moody, the main reason to acquire this album is to hear the excellent vocal harmonies of and the superb melodies composed by Rick's partners; songwriters and musicians Hannah Marcus and David Grubbs. These are musicians who have their mutual affection for traditional bluegrass, folk and country music molded into something truly memorable that is the best body of work I have heard so far coming from Brooklyn, New York (One that isn't even connected at all to Brooklyn's over-hyped, rather mediocre, country music scene; a harsh assessment which I have heard from Brooklyn residents who are professional classical musicians.)."