Magic Tuber String Band – “Tribute To The Angels”

It’s an absolute wealth of folk today and I’m excited to seen new work from one of the past few years’ rising faves. Magic Tuber Stringband dig through the twisted roots of traditional folk to find discord and discomfort among the usual ramble of Appalachian strains, and they come into their new album, Heavy Water, with similar sensibilities. First cut “Tribute To The Angels” twists the roundabout ramble into barbed knots of fiddle and guitar. The band’s new album digs into the displacement of communities along the Savannah River Site near their South Carolina home, an area marked by heavy industrial pollution as a result of atomic bomb construction by DuPont. The elegies here use the palette of traditional folk to twist our vision of American history, helping to dig back up what would rather stay buried and give voice to those who were told to stay silent. The ecological devastation, unfortunately, isn’t unique to the SRS, but displacement at the hands of capital reverberates through generations. The band tunes into the specters of generational trauma on new album, Heavy Water, out May 22nd from Thrill Jockey.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.