The first song on the new Anomonoan album is called "Sixteen Ways," butI need only two words to sum it up: Grateful Dead. The promo materialhinted that this album was inspired by the birth of Ned Oldham's sonand daughter, which is a fine and noble reason to record an album, butI would question the wisdom of including a field recording of a baby'scrying (Sam Oldham, who must be one of the newborn Oldham clan)overdubbed and softly accenting the lyrics on "Sixteen Ways," which atthis point declaim the crying of a baby as reassurance that the baby isalive. That said, this is probably my best song on "Asleep Many Yearsin the Wood." The rock songs on this album have an undeniablecountry/classic rock slant and I have a hard time listening to musicthat reminds me of The Eagles or something worse. Looking through theinserts, I noticed on the back a photo of a bottle of whiskey perchedon a window sill, with the label altered to read the band name andalbum title. This is a Photoshop sleight-of-hand which I most recentlysaw featured on the cover of Motley Crue's autobiography "The Dirt,"except there it was appropriately a bottle of Jack Daniels (here, itlooks more like what once was a bottle of Old Smuggler). Despite theshared aesthetic, I could not find any songs on the Anonomoan albumwhich recalled either early or later Motley Crue, although I might beable to make a case for "Time for Change," (circa Dr. Feelgood)sounding like "Y'Know" if I tried hard enough. The most heartwarmingparts of Anomonoan songs occur in the slower songs when Ned's voiceswoops up a few octaves and teeters on the edge of high notes he canbarely hold onto. Oldham manages to cling, however tenuous the grip,and the warble and the persistence are a beautiful thing in his voice.It is different from brother Will's, but Ned's clearly evidences theOldham vocal genome. Appropriately, one of these swoops occurs in"Bluebird of Happiness" when the lyrics croon, "and there's a contrarybreeze a-blowin'." Whether the headwind is the cause or theinterpretation of Oldham's vocal wisps, he is wise to let them take thesongs where they do, for they have the power to punctuate and decoratewhat might otherwise become bland country rock songs.Read More
