Jefferson At Rest

Album review

On their third full-length, Bloomington, Indiana's Early Day Miners clearly set out to reinvent themselves. Recorded live at vocalist Daniel Burton's Grotto Home Studio, the band openly set out to record a more rock-oriented album. Burton's hushed vocals keep Jefferson at Rest from being a straightforward rock effort, but the focused instrumentation is a clear step away from the sonic experiments of albums past. Burton is again joined by drummer Rory Leitch, guitarist Joseph Brumley, bassist Matt Lindblom, and violinist Maggie Polk. After Burton's relaxed performance on the opening track, "Wheeling," he sings a duet with new vocalist Erin Hodchkin on "New Holland," a graceful and compelling narrative. Much of Jefferson at Rest's lyrics make reference to the post-Civil War-era American South, where Burton spent his childhood. "Jefferson" is virtually the title track of the disc, and marks some of Burton's most impressive vocals on the disc. While the album has been compared to albums by Seam and Califone, the band clearly set its own musical path on Jefferson at Rest. The Miners are at their best on songs like "McCalla," which tells the tale of a Confederate soldier, and the devastatingly cool "Awake," with Leitch's drumming setting a steady backbone to the song's soothing arrangement. The orchestral "Into Pines" and the layered tones of the disc closer "Cotillion" point to the influence of Papa M, who lent his production help during some of the recording sessions. Secretly Canadian Records released the disc in April 2003.
© Stephen Cramer /TiVo