Michael Knott Noah Riemer

Item: Mother Nation
Author: Terry Wandtke

Mother Nation

(2001)

Reviewed by Terry Wandtke

Discogs Bandcamp

Label independentThe Phantom Tollbooth2001

americana folk rock

For well over a decade, Michael Knott has had a consistently small but fiercely loyal following. While that may be equally frustrating and fulfilling for Knott, the nature of his fan base is due in large part to his approach to music making. Some might call it haphazard and others might call it varied and therefore brilliant. Either way, every new album by Knott is a potential surprise. Taking a brief sample of his musical history into account, one could survey the changes from the pre-Goth Bauhaus style of LSU's Shaded Pain to the orchestrated concept album sound of LSU's The Grape Prophet and his solo Fluid to the folk-punk of his solo Strip Cycle to the atmospheric club music of Cush. I don't think Knott's small but loyal following will be disappointed with Mother Nation but as usual they should be ready for a challenge.

Mother Nation is a project Knott developed jointly with Noah Riemer. At recent performances, Riemer's band Ticklepenny Corner has been opening for Knott. While Riemer's voice is a startling match with Knott's own, I was unsure how well Ticklepenny Corner would introduce Knott's eclectic and often aggressive shows. Still building their own fan base, the band's sound has been compared to Over the Rhine, and their female vocalist hails to some of the alternative country stylings of the elegant Alison Krauss. Apparently (as evidenced by their interest in collaborating), the fit was much more seamless than I expected.

Recorded in hotel rooms during their tour (and therefore, please note, a very low-fi album), this plays like a collection of road songs. When I refer to this work as "road songs," I do so affectionately. Knott and Riemer make simple and profound statements about a country that only can be made by those who are rootless (at least for a little while). Travel (and the possibility of return) is the operative metaphor established by the cover art drawing of a train, the album opening sounds of a train, and the first song "Down the Line":

Engine 59, comin' down the line
Wishing she was mine . . . Put your ear to track
Tell me if she's coming back
While I drink this sorrow wine
Is she coming back this time?

Sung by Knott, the song works with images and creates a sound similar to that popularized by Johnny Cash.

The next song, "Roadside Diner" sung by Riemer, develops a similar feel as a testament to weariness and lost love. Vocally, both manage to create a sense of longing without falling into the pop music trap of melodrama. Riemer's observational story-oriented lyricism fits well with the poetry Knott finds in everyday life. And this general approach is well suited for the stripped-down musicality offered by this album, seemingly hailing from the singer / songwriters of American folk such as Woody Guthrie.

This is most evident with their song of social consciousness titled "Mother Nation Dearest":

Are we making excuses for our loving misuses?
Do we hear the crying or are we just denying?
Well, we don't seem to know what this is all about
Cause mother nation dearest is holding out.

However, the folk tradition is also operative within a simple, sad, and haunting song like "Sand Angel." And demonstrating their intention to make further credible their album full of American observations, Knott and Riemer even more broadly appropriate American musical tradition by including the gospel-tinged "Sweep It Up Oh Lord" and the blues-influenced "Desecrated Man."

As mentioned earlier, anyone picking up this album should not expect a finely polished studio effort with great sound. However, Knott and Riemer take a self-conscious approach to the questionable value of the recording quality. When they joke during an introduction and later in the middle of a song replace (I think) a broken guitar string, they blatantly identify the weaknesses of the album, weaknesses which are paradoxically also the strengths. The informal presentation suggests you are welcomed into their home (temporary though it may be as a hotel room). With songs consisting alternately of hope and sadness and offering little bits of their bare souls, Knott and Riemer develop their own version of American music; it's worth a listen.

3.5 tocks