The Folk Implosion – Walk Thru Me

Joyful Noise

This is an intriguing proposition. Twenty-five years of silence from The Folk Implosion and then suddenly an album appears and although we know that Lou Barlow has had Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr and a solo career in the intervening years, what I didn’t realise was that John Davis has also been regularly releasing material over the last ten or twelve years.

So to find them coming together again after all this time could hold some interesting ideas. The downtime and lack of contact between them has not diminished their rapport and perhaps surprisingly the Walk Thru Me sounds as if it could have been recorded a few years after 1999’s One Part Lullaby, but then their sound always did stand outside any prevailing trends.

There are ten new tracks into which we can sink our teeth, with the lion’s share of the vocals taken by Lou. His voice has improved with age and the relatively low-key and semi-exploratory nature of the album suits his mellowing tones. It is a voice that is immediately recognisable and the simple percussion of opener “Crepuscular” is just a peg from which to hang the vocals. The unexpected guitar lines and idiosyncratic leaps of vocal melody uncover a sanguine mindset: “You can’t fight the daylight / Just let it all in”, he tells us and immediately it feels like a natural return.

Lou’s bass is another unique sound, but I always think that John’s voice is the underused resource. Singing on only three of the tracks here, his oblique lyricism and nasal whine that descends into an amused half-spoken delivery is a great counterpoint to Lou’s more regular delivery. John also seems to bring unusual instrumentation, with the tablas on “The Day You Died” and the Eastern-tinged shimmering bouzouki (or somesuch) on “Walk Thru Me” being great cases in point.

Lou’s vocals seems warmer here, as if The Folk Implosion set-up is his most natural setting and you can tell they are still supremely comfortable together, with songs going off at tangents, changing key and diverging unexpectedly — or perhaps expectedly but pleasingly. “My Little Lamb” is a touching paean to Lou’s young child and it is nice to see him able to elucidate these emotions, even if they are over John’s Cramps-y drums. John doesn’t allow that kind of soul-baring though, and his semi-drawled “Bobblehead Doll” is obfuscatory compared to the basic rhythm, even with the cute instrumental details.

The singing bass and gently shrieking guitar of “The Fable And The Fact” are as close to noise as they go, but they are far too laid back and in a good place to push the volume or the patience of the listener very far. Instead, they are more than content to allow the new wavy, slow rumbling beat and dreamy echoing reverb of “Right Hand Over Heart” or the martial drums and guarded intrigue of “Water Torture” to charm the listener.

Thankfully, Walk Thru Me does still retain the home recording vibe for which they are known and even though it was engineered by Scott Solter, the sleeve image of the two of them up in attic of a house surrounded by records and paraphernalia sums them up perfectly. The democratic approach, the open ears and willingness to try anything are all still here; and on the final track “Moonlit Kind”, not only does it sound as though they are having fun but are gently pushing one another, with the unlikely crystalline guitar or the synthy strings a way of raising the stakes.

Walk Thru Me is an impressive return to form, but one that could see another album next year or find them walk away and not convene for another quarter century. Either way, this is a really enjoyable addition to the catalogue and we can look forward to seeing where it leads.

-Mr Olivetti-