Music Review: Folk Family Revival, Water Walker

By Melissa Bratcher

I had such high hopes for Folk Family Revival’s Water Walker on the strength of the opening song, “If It Don’t Kill You.” It’s an edgy, urgent, dark-feeling, guitar-driven tune with some pleasing, unforced vocals from singer Mason Langford (and nice siren-like backing vocals). It’s a good opener, one that feels as if there are real stakes here: something is going to happen.

“I Drew A Line” has a delicious guitar sound, like a harder edged Bakersfield sound, chugging and driving. It, too, has a vein of darkness that runs through, as do most of the songs on Water Walker, but the vocals at the end have a fine bit of fire in them. “Darlin’” is propelled by banjo and has curious fuzzed-out vocals.

“Drunk Again” is an oddly pretty song with rambling, delicate acoustic guitar. The lyrics are darkly witty, but also terribly sad (about a guy who gets hammered every night). “Everyone Loves Everyone” sounds like it is a commercial for an Instagram filter, hazy with Bono-esque vocals. The excellent theremin running underneath “Cotton Dress” adds a bit of atmosphere to a slightly sinister tune.

“Sunshine,” a somnambulant, also-a-bit-uneasy song with a quietly grungy guitar solo buried in dreamy layers, is fine as well. The lyrics, I suppose, are the problem. They aspire to have depth and meaning, but sound like the equivalent of poetry you (or I) scrawled in 11th grade: so very serious and purposeful, but really just surface. I get it: lyrics don’t always come easy. The music is there, the musicianship is excellent, but the lyrics are. . . platitudes.

I do think that the tracks on Water Walker would sound better live. While produced well, it sounds as if the guitars are raring to go, and being restrained unnecessarily. It doesn’t help that most of the songs are similar in tempo. It would have been fantastic to hear a real barn burner from Folk Family Revival, because they’ve got it in them. Perhaps on the next album.

Water Walker was released on April 7 by Rock Ridge Music.