Mad Mackerel Recommends Haunted Windchimes

We became aware of Haunted Windchimes via an eMusic recommendation and having some credits to use, duly downloaded the album Honey Moonshine as much for the great name and great artwork as anything else.

And, boy are we glad we did.

It is a wonderful album of authentic, bewitching folk that draws you in and holds you tight. Beautiful harmonies and the traditional topics of love, heartbreak, lonliness and desperation abound, but there is also the righteous anger of political protest A Ballad Of Human Progress to finish the album with a snarl. Banjo, guitar, harmonica, violin and drums provide much of the instrumentation and it is done wonderfully without a single bum note.

We have the video to Waitin’ On A Train for you, plus a download from previous album An Evening With The Haunted Windchimes. In fact both their previous albums can be downloaded for free from The Internet Archive here.

Visit their MySpace here or website here. Download the new album from eMusic here.

Download The Haunted Windchimes – Don’t Take My Baby Away (Baby Back) mp3 (from Honey Moonshine)

Download The Haunted Windchimes – Lordy Lordy mp3 (from An Evening With: The Haunted Windchimes)

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Includes photos and a video

ALBUM REVIEW: The Haunted Windchimes

THE HAUNTED WINDCHIMES
Honey-Moonshine
Blank Tape Records

Maybe I was just bored, or perhaps it was an instinctual lust for alcohol, but the old-timey drawing of a jug of moonshine on the Haunted Windchime’s debut, Honey-Moonshine, drew me right in. Society tells me: don’t’ judge a book by its cover, but fuck ‘em. It looked awesome, so I gave it a spin. The Haunted Windchimes, I soon discovered, are a rootsy folk band that raise the hairs on my arms with their bewitching harmonies. Sassy female timbres blur into male-led verses, creating a sound that sways from the holy to the demonic. You can hear a bit of a raspy Andrew Bird in the male vocalist (Inaiah), and a bit of Dolly Parton and Lilly Allen in the females (Chela and Desirae). These three voices snap together like LEGO bricks and remind me of a combo of Fleet Foxes and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The Windchimes hypnotize while remaining springy and fun. Inaiah, Chela and Desirae sing cliché lyrics dealing with love, heartbreak and loneliness, but somehow they do not suffer from this. Non-political lyrics are digestible and make it easier to cozy up to the album. However, with the densely political finisher “A Ballad of Human Progress,” The Windchimes show they can go from Vanilla Ice to Public Enemy at the drop of a dime. It is a refreshing folky burst of anger. The instrumentation is pretty much constant throughout— banjo, guitar, violin, upright bass and the occasional harmonica. No, there isn’t any jug blowing here… but there is one snazzy kazoo solo (“Waitin on a Train”). Listening to Honey-Moonshine reminded me of sitting in a log cabin somewhere in New York with a couple of friends, passing around a large jug of whiskey. It was a great random find (thanks to the album art) and is certainly worth a listen while the weather is still hot.

– MATTHEW HENGEVELD, Phawker.com

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Honey Moonshine Album Review in Pueblo P.U.L.P

Love and the Human Condition: The Haunted Windchimes
Written by Peter John McLean


The Haunted Windchimes recently released their new full-length album, Honey Moonshine, which was recorded/engineered by Butch Hause at the Western Jubilee in Colorado Springs. As is expected of The Haunted Windchimes, it is a surreal mixture of antiquated imagery and progressive beliefs, which are then expressed through a harmony of extremely talented voices.

Anyone who has heard The Haunted Windchimes is aware of their beautiful vocals, and their innate style of letting the vocals carry the melody. The tempo, however, seems to slow down brutally by the ninth measure of the first song "Little Bones." Whether this was a stylistic ritardando or not, I found it surprisingly sloppy-a disappointing start to such an eagerly awaited release.

Many of the songs center around travel, with strong references to physical imagery-especially trains. Songs like "Find the Door" tackle issues like the ending of relationships, or "Waitin' For a Train," which captures the boisterous spirit common to sojourners of all forms. This was something I could relate to, something I could appreciate. What was even more exciting to me was that it featured a kazoo.

"Honey Moonshine," the title track, features a number of musical dynamics, quickly moving from mezzo pianissimo to mezzo forte, eventually leading to a crescendo and a sforzando, then in reverse order from mezzo forte. The process is then repeated. It is also the first song on the album to introduce genuine voice leading, which I found to be a refreshing change. What struck me more than anything else was the unconventional build of each song. Their lyrics stray from the normal pop design, floating more into the realm of almost Kerouacian haikus. This was something that my ears had great trouble adjusting to, but as I opened my mind to the more literate and less catchy motif, I eventually acclimated myself to its unrelenting presence.

The album is full of heavyweight themes. Like I have said, travel is the most prevalent sensory image used to convey their thoughts, but other premises, like love and the human condition, find themselves buried under train car imagery and ghost matter illusions, often found in the least likely of places. The album ends powerfully with what I would argue is their strongest song, "A Ballad of Human Progress," which clearly displays a workhorse of punk ideals shadowed by their extremely folk demeanor. And it's full of politicians, bankers and lawyers/a fast talking man been armed to destroy us/and keep us from the truth/consume, consume, consume. I felt like they held this back the whole album just to hit a bit too softly in the end. Whereas I expected a punk-influenced folk album blessed with fiery passion and deadpan wit, instead I was handed a model for what could have been much more.



Honey Moonshine is available at hauntedwindchimes.com