Alpha Mule - Peripheral Vision (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.alphamulemusic.com/

BANDCAMP: https://alphamule.bandcamp.com/

Written by Larry Robertson, posted by blog admin

Country n’ western meets folk when Alpha Mule dons their instruments for a down-home BBQ full of tight melodies and rising vocal harmonies.  With touches of bluegrass, blues and other rural Americana sounds; Peripheral Vision is the band’s debut of original songs and there’s some great stuff to behold here.  Lots of quick banjo, acoustic guitar shakedowns with verse vocal patterns giving way to grandstand choruses that really make you want to sing-a-long at the top of your lungs.

“Corpus Christi” kicks things off in dusky bluegrass mode; relatively upbeat instrumentation smothered by a layer of production darkness that creates a nice sonic blend.  Banjo and acoustic guitar duel while the group’s two main players cook up some delicious vocal harmonies.  The group, comprised of Joe Forkan on guitar/vocals and Eric Stoner banjo/vocals manage to cover a lot of ground as just a duo while bringing in a few players to handle additional instrumentation like upright bass, etc.  “On the Moon” is decidedly more upbeat with more twinkling to the stringed instruments and a cleaner, more arid sound, as particularly fat, beefy bass lines drive the action as the banjo and guitars glide overtop.  The end result has an overall happier feel with some cool lead vocals paving the way into listener’s memories.  The title cut is a classic Nashville tearjerker with the stalwart steel guitar accoutrements coloring in all of the dark spaces and making for a soulful slow-burn full of authentic country twang thanks to the acoustic guitar n’ banjo duel that happens in the body of the song.  “The Distance” tempers the old school country style with jazz piano and it’s another strong piece that comes in and hits you in those low emotional places. 

Turning to that boogie upright bass pluckin’ of the rockabilly style, “Pavlov” is a funky number with emphasis on the rhythm section as the guitars and banjos crackle n’ fade alongside some husky low-toned vocals.  It’s obvious that these two are in tight control of their sound at all times.  Similarly driving and uptempo “Mule in the Mine” has that river panning, coal miner’s tinge borrowed from bluegrass but it comes off as more far country than farmland.  It’s an interesting old school track that’s catchy but expressive at the same time.  “Step Outside” brings the steel guitars back into focus before “The Ballad of Huell Howser” goes back to a body shakin’, country two-step.  The flamenco flavored, Spanish guitar of “Music of Our Hearts” is another unique aural deviation from the band’s core elements and “Empire” ends the album with a dark-folk apocalypse.  Some B-side bonus tracks and alternate duo versions of the album tracks (without the extra instrumentation) round things out for a very complete listen that covers all of the ground that you want it to when the listening is all said and done. 

Peripheral Vision is a modern classic of the country genre that nobody should miss out.  With excellent and tight playing, powerful words and vocals and a production job that brings out every song’s greatest strengths, there’s a lot to discover here for fans of the way back style.  Anyone that digs country, folk, bluegrass and beyond should have a heck of a time with this one.