Putnam Smith laments, We Could Be Beekeepers

Back in black (and yellow)
By SAM PFEIFLE  |  June 1, 2011

beat2_PutnamSmithTrio_main
WITH SUPPORT Putnam Smith, Seth Yentes, and Mariel Vandersteel.
Reviewing his sophomore full-length, Goldrush, I accused Putnam Smith of wishing it were 1909 instead of 2009. Looks like I was on the mark: "Sometimes I wonder back to Y2K, if it had all gone back to 1900, like they say/Should we have gone with it, might it be better that way?"

Sure, there's a chuckle in his delivery as part of "Alfred Hitchcock," the finishing track on the brand-new We Could Be Beekeepers, but he's not fooling anyone. This guy would love a return to the world of self-sustainability, where electronics are the stuff of Jules Verne novels. Smith peddles a folksy brand of nostalgia that endears with clawhammer banjo, rag-tag piano, and raw fiddle. Tack on his mostly whispered vocals and you might find yourself picking up your phone to call an ex without knowing exactly why.

A self-professed hermit and road-warrior, it's not just coincidence that has him wishing he were a mole in the ground like Joe Walsh on his album a couple weeks prior. Both are plying some pretty traditional acoustic music, but Smith is more old-timey, à la the Mammals (who also do a take on "Sail Away Ladies" on their debut disc), going for a more rustic sound.

Helpful is Seth Yentes's cello, which lends a gravity especially to "Far Out Sea" and "This Mountain Ain't My Home," and grounds much of the album when it might get too high-register with banjo and fiddle. The latter is supplied by Mariel Vandersteel, who also provides backing vocals, along with a hooped-skirt charm.

Like Ray LaMontagne, Smith still doesn't know what love is. Like Prince, he pines for a time "when you were mine." He knows heartache and regret and both come together in the title track and album heart: "I wish you were beside me/I'm tired of being alone/Together we could be beekeepers/Together we could make a home."

Hey, anything could happen. What's old is new again. Beekeeping is de rigueur nowadays.

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at  sam_pfeifle@yahoo.com.

WE COULD BE BEEKEEPERS | Released by Putnam Smith | at One Longfellow Square, in Portland | June 4 | putnamsmith.com

Related: String sections, Photos: Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents at TT's, Interview: The Wippets, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Mammals, Joe Walsh,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY SAM PFEIFLE
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   LIVING WITH SNAEX  |  November 03, 2014
    Snaex's new record The 10,000 Things is all a big fuck you to what? Us? Lingering dreams of making music for others to consume? Society at large?  
  •   THE BIG MUDDY  |  October 24, 2014
    Some people just want it more.
  •   TALL HORSE, SHORT ALBUM  |  October 16, 2014
    If Slainte did nothing more than allow Nick Poulin the time and space to get Tall Horse together, its legacy may be pretty well secure. Who knows what will eventually come of the band, but Glue, as a six-song introduction to the world, is a damn fine work filled with highly listenable, ’90s-style indie rock.
  •   REVIVING VIVA NUEVA  |  October 11, 2014
    15 years ago last week, Rustic Overtones appeared on the cover of the third-ever issue of the Portland Phoenix .
  •   RODGERS, OVER AND OUT  |  October 11, 2014
    It’s been a long time since standing up and pounding on a piano and belting out lyrics has been much of a thing.

 See all articles by: SAM PFEIFLE