Cass McCombs | ||
| Allmusic Biography : An eclectic singer/songwriter with a haunting voice who balances emotional richness, awareness, and wry demeanor in his lyrics, Cass McCombs negotiates styles including Americana, Baroque pop, psychedelia, and sprawling jam band folk-rock, among others, in his music. He made his label debut in 2002 with the EP Not the Way. A series of unpredictable records followed, including 2008s Dropping the Writ -- his Domino Records debut -- and his first album for Anti-, 2016s Mangy Love. His eighth studio LP overall, the latter appeared on both the Billboard rock and Americana/folk charts. After bouncing around the country writing songs and honing his craft, McCombs work caught the ear of Baltimore label Monitor Records, which released his first EP, 2002s Not the Way. McCombs debut album, A, was released early the following year and was distributed in Europe and the U.K. by 4AD. Early in 2005, the "Sacred Heart" single revealed the more polished and poppy direction of his second album, Prefection, which arrived that spring. Recorded in studios and at home, McCombs third album, Dropping the Writ, was released in October 2007, followed by Catacombs in 2009. For 2011s Wits End, McCombs opted for a dark, chamber music-inspired sound. The album landed in the Top 15 of Billboards Heatseekers and Americana/folk charts. Before the year was out, he returned with the "Bradley Manning" single, which he premiered on the Democracy Now News Hour, and another new album, Humor Risk. The following year, his song "Love Thine Enemy" was performed by the National and Bob Weir. McCombs released the sprawling 22-song double album Big Wheel and Others in 2013. The record, which featured vocals from actress Karen Black on one track and contributions from musicians Mike Gordon (Phish), Joe Russo (Furthur), and Joan Wasser (Joan as Police Woman), found the singer digging deep into Americana and exploring a wide range of sounds and styles. Domino Records then released an anthology of McCombs rarities and B-sides called A Folk Set Apart in late 2015. His eighth full-length studio album, 2016s Mangy Love, took on sociopolitical topics with accompaniment that dipped into psychedelia, reggae, Baroque pop, and funk. It featured over a dozen guests, including fellow renegade songwriter Angel Olsen, guitarist Blake Mills, and Stuart Bogie of Superhuman Happiness. He followed it with Tip of the Sphere in 2019. With a backing band that included keyboardist Frank LoCrasto, bassist Dan Horne, drummer Otto Hauser, and several guests, it was engineered by Sam Owens, also known as Sam Evian. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 13 Title: Not the Way Released: 2002 Tracks: 6 Duration: 24:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Not the Way (03:20) 2 So Damn Pure (03:32) 3 Opium Flower (06:03) 4 Your Mother and Father (03:58) 5 Nobodys Nixon (04:08) 6 Its Getting Colder (03:56) |
 | Album: 2 of 13 Title: A Released: 2004-03-01 Tracks: 11 Duration: 46:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 I Went to the Hospital (05:14) 2 Bobby, King of Boys Town (03:46) 3 What Isnt Nature (04:48) 4 AIDS in Africa (05:42) 5 A Comedian Is Someone Who Tells Jokes (03:30) 6 Gee, Its Good to Be Back Home (02:59) 7 Meet Me Here at Dawn (03:39) 8 When the Bible Was Wrote (04:06) 9 My Pilgrim Dear (04:50) 10 Bedding Down Post-Xmastime (03:54) 11 My Master (04:20) |
 | Album: 3 of 13 Title: PREfection Released: 2005-02-07 Tracks: 10 Duration: 50:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Equinox (03:35) 2 Subtraction (03:49) 3 Multiple Suns (05:21) 4 Tourist Woman (03:47) 5 Sacred Heart (04:06) 6 Shes Still Suffering (05:20) 7 Cuckoo (04:05) 8 Bury Mary (02:18) 9 City of Brotherly Love (04:29) 10 All Your Dreams May Come True (13:04) |
 | Album: 4 of 13 Title: Dropping the Writ Released: 2007-10-09 Tracks: 10 Duration: 42:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Lionkiller (04:31) 2 Pregnant Pause (03:29) 3 Thats That (04:15) 4 Petrified Forest (03:59) 5 Morning Shadows (02:56) 6 Deseret (03:54) 7 Crick in My Neck (04:19) 8 Full Moon or Infinity (04:25) 9 Windfall (04:48) 10 Wheel of Fortune (06:14) |
| Dropping the Writ : Allmusic album Review : After two impressive indie pop-folk-rock albums for Baltimore-based indie Monitor, Cass McCombs third album, his first for Domino, starts off on the wrong foot with the overly dramatic, theatrical, and angular "Lionkiller." The lyrics are jarring, McCombs vocals are over-the-top, and the music is repetitious. Once its out of the way, though, Dropping the Writ is a very good, highly enjoyable record. For all McCombs arty inclinations, at heart he is a pop songwriter capable of crafting melodies and hooks that draw you in and at times knock you out. All the proof you need is in "Thats That," a shuddering midtempo track that, with a slicker arrangement (and different lyrics that dont mention cleaning toilets in a Baltimore nightclub), wouldnt sound out of place on a Lindsey Buckingham solo album. Or in "Crick in My Neck," with its swooping doo wop background harmonies, chiming guitars, and galloping hooks. Or "Windfall," with its pristine acoustic guitar lines, McCombs soaring vocals, and lovely yearning melody. Still, those artistic tendencies do keep popping up, mostly in the lyrics but occasionally in his habit of stretching his voice past its range and yelping to make a point (check "Lionkiller" or "Wheel of Fortune"). It can prove off-putting when it occurs, but mostly McCombs maintains a steady balance between weirdness and accessibility on the album. Anyone who finds comfort in the soft melancholy of Iron & Wine, the intimate vulnerability of the first Rogue Wave album, or again, the willful iconoclasm of Lindsey Buckinghams best work will find much to admire here. If you can connect with the left-field nature of the lyrics and the occasional flights of artistic fancy, you might even find love with Dropping the Writ. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 13 Title: Catacombs Released: 2009-06-01 Tracks: 11 Duration: 53:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Dreams-Come-True-Girl (05:22) 2 Prima Donna (04:53) 3 You Saved My Life (05:24) 4 Dont Vote (05:27) 5 The Executioners Song (04:21) 6 Harmonia (06:07) 7 My Sister, My Spouse (05:14) 8 Lionkiller Got Married (05:34) 9 Eavesdropping on the Competition (03:54) 10 Jonesy Boy (04:45) 11 One Way to Go (02:55) |
| Catacombs : Allmusic album Review : On the album he released previous to 2009s Catacombs, Baltimore singer/songwriter Cass McCombs began moving away from the reverb-heavy, lo-fi sound and busy arrangements of his first two records in favor of a more direct sound with cleaner production. Here, McCombs strips away the remaining traces of his early bedroom-crafted indie pop sound and aims for something simpler that takes the focus away from the sound of the record and places it firmly on the wordy, emotionally charged songs and McCombs vocals. The vocals are always up to the task; McCombs has ditched the jittery yelping he sometimes used on Dropping the Writ and instead settles into a warm and intimate style that instantly draws the listener in closer. The songs are mostly strong, too; almost uniformly quiet and introspective, they create a mood that lingers throughout the album like a melancholy haze. Tracks like the yearning "Dreams Come True Girl" or the tender, epic "Harmonia" cast a quietly desperate spell; in much the same way American Music Club did, only with less sarcastic wit and more resigned sadness. Only the lightly skipping "Prima Donna" breaks the feeling and adds some much-needed sunshine. The problem with creating an album this uniformly midtempo and hushed is that by the end, the listener may be screaming for a song to show some spunk or to kick the tempo up past the "lope" setting. It doesnt happen here, and its not really a big problem because the songs and mood are so cleverly established and sustained. The bigger issue is that a couple songs are overly wordy or hook-free ("Dont," "Lionkiller Got Married," and "My Sister, My Spouse"), and this is where the album could use some instrumental coloring or production tricks to add some much needed distraction. For the most part, though, the album is an enjoyable addition to McCombs catalog and shows him growing as an artist. While some fans of his early work may be left behind, most people who enjoy witty songs with tender emotion behind them will be satisfied with Catacombs and happy with the direction hes headed. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 13 Title: The Idea of a Winters Cave and an Autumn Day: Daytrotter Studio, Rock Island, IL, USA Released: 2009-06-29 Tracks: 5 Duration: 20:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Welcome to Daytrotter (?) 2 Harmonia (05:25) 3 Prima Donna (05:12) 4 You Saved My Life (04:50) 5 City of Brotherly Love (04:59) |
 | Album: 7 of 13 Title: Wits End Released: 2011-04-11 Tracks: 8 Duration: 47:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 County Line (05:37) 2 The Lonely Doll (05:37) 3 Buried Alive (05:37) 4 Saturday Song (05:12) 5 Memorys Stain (07:23) 6 Hermits Cave (04:19) 7 Pleasant Shadow Song (04:11) 8 A Knock Upon the Door (09:23) |
| Wit's End : Allmusic album Review : In several sometimes perplexing ways, Cass McCombs fifth full-length outing, Wits End, veers moderately but decisively away from the appealingly direct, rootsy indie folk of its predecessor, Catacombs. In its place is a stark, occasionally stifling collection of dark, literary, chamber folk, melodramatic piano balladry, and one sterling piece of country-pop classicism. Album-opener "County Line" is a quiet stunner: a mellow-grooving country-soul burner so achingly smooth youd swear it was a turn-of-the-70s chestnut from the L.A. soft rock scene -- a stray cut from the vaults of Asylum Records, perhaps, or maybe a particularly glossy tune by the Band -- complete with that iconic Fender Rhodes twinkle. (Its restrained melancholy and vintage-styled craftsmanship also call to mind Becks Sea Change.) But its hardly an accurate indication of whats to come, at least musically: although several songs feature a similar instrumental palette, and the moody, subdued tone persists throughout, nothing else here is nearly as warm or winningly melodic. Lyrically, "County Line"s tale of loss and rueful homecoming (seemingly about a hometown transformed by new development, rather than a doomed romantic relationship, though it could be both) is just a taste of the darkness and desperation that, as the albums title hints at, pervade these eight songs. Elsewhere, we get the desolate, jilted lover of the maudlin "Saturday Song," the chilling "Buried Alive" (whose title is evidently not metaphorical), and the wracked "Hermits Cave," which plays like a gloomier variation on the Beach Boys "Thats Not Me" with an added dose of mysticism. When McCombs often heavily stylized, antiquarian verse is paired with a suitably intriguing arrangement (as on "Memory Stain," a forlorn piano waltz that gets some much-needed color and lift via accordion, bass clarinet, and a few well-placed castanets) or a decently forward-moving melody ("Buried Alive," which is both tender and almost delightfully macabre), the results can be effective, if not exactly inviting. On the other hand, no amount of celeste can save "The Lonely Doll," an overly precious fable set to a maddeningly harmonically static waltz -- with the title phrase repeated after every awkward couplet -- from being utterly insufferable. The albums most ambitious -- and, possibly excepting the incongruous "County Line," most successful -- moment comes with nine-minute closer "A Knock Upon the Door," a rambling narrative ballad and yet another waltz, this time with a rustic, old world lilt spiced up with a coolly sinister backing combo of banjo, bass clarinet, organ, chalumeau (a Baroque relative of the recorder), and found-sound percussion. Its the most potent and captivating expression of the gothic sensibility that runs through Wits End, and one of a few potentially promising directions suggested by this odd, somewhat bewildering, and perhaps hopefully transitional effort. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 13 Title: Humor Risk Released: 2011-11-07 Tracks: 8 Duration: 41:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Love Thine Enemy (03:56) 2 The Living Word (05:44) 3 The Same Thing (06:13) 4 To Every Man His Chimera (05:21) 5 Robin Egg Blue (03:42) 6 Mystery Mail (07:50) 7 Meet Me at the Mannequin Gallery (04:27) 8 Mariah (03:55) |
| Humor Risk : Allmusic album Review : Nomadic lo-fi indie rock malcontent Cass McCombs sixth album (and second of 2011) begins with the couplet "Love thine enemy/But hate the lack of sincerity," a notion that acts as the foundation for the eight cuts on the hypnotic but illuminating Humor Risk. The aforementioned "Love Thine Enemy" is just one of three slow-burn rockers on the record that bring to mind Kurt Vile fronting the Church; the other two, "The Same Thing" and "Robin Egg Blue," are prettier, but no less dissatisfied. Its a sound and style that work well with McCombs obvious pop sensibilities, which tend to manifest themselves most successfully when the volumes turned up. Elsewhere, midtempo outings like the slacker-beat poetry anthem "The Living Word" and willowy psych-folk closer "Mariah" paint vivid portraits of amiable dissolution, and the languid and bible-bleak "To Every Man His Chimera" provides the collections finest sentiment in "Oh, Mary/Im just too much to carry." | ||
 | Album: 9 of 13 Title: Lost in the Ether Land: Big Orange Studios, Austin, TX, USA Released: 2011-11-29 Tracks: 5 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Welcome to Daytrotter (?) 2 Angel Blood (?) 3 Chimera (?) 4 County Line (?) 5 Robin Egg Blue (?) |
 | Album: 10 of 13 Title: Big Wheel and Others Released: 2013-10-14 Tracks: 22 Duration: 1:25:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sean I (00:58) 2 Big Wheel (03:40) 3 Angel Blood (03:43) 4 Morning Star (03:56) 5 The Burning of the Temple, 2012 (06:03) 6 Brighter! (03:56) 7 There Can Be Only One (04:17) 8 Name Written in Water (02:52) 9 Joe Murder (05:52) 10 Everything Has to Be Just-So (08:59) 1 It Means a Lot to Know You Care (03:33) 2 Dealing (03:19) 3 Sooner Cheat Death Than Fool Love (03:12) 4 Satan Is My Toy (02:39) 5 Sean II (01:11) 6 Home on the Range (06:38) 7 Brighter! (03:51) 8 Untitled Spain Song (03:58) 9 Sean III (00:51) 10 Honesty Is No Excuse (05:24) 11 Aeon of Aquarius Blues (03:36) 12 Unearthed (02:54) |
| Big Wheel and Others : Allmusic album Review : Following a remarkably prolific 2011, which saw the release of not one but two strong-in-their-own-right full-length records (Wits End and Humor Risk) from indie troubadour Cass McCombs, things got relatively quiet for the ever-evolving songwriter. His complexly poetic lyricism and subtly textured musicianship were in prime form on both albums, reaching into different places of darkness and humor. Two years later, Big Wheel and Others arrived; a sprawling 22-track collection that clocks in at almost 90 minutes and shows McCombs trying on different hats in his own established way of slowly unraveling his patient, aching compositions. Its an odd one. Beginning with a home-recorded spoken interview with a four-year-old, the album launches with a trio of repetitive Americana-seeped road rockers. The dusty churn of "Big Wheel," pedal steel-glazed softness of "Angel Blood," and dark lumbering tones of "Morning Star" set the listener up for an understated album of cowboy songs and clean, country-tinged melodies delivered from a distance. Before sinking into any one mode, however, McCombs quickly shifts gears with the saxophone-aided amble of "The Burning of the Temple, 2012," breezy dad-rock with the Graceland-esque instrumentation of "There Can Be Only One," and eventually the disorientingly lengthy sermon/poem/song cycle of "Everything Has to Be Just-So." This song riffs on for almost nine minutes, with a Dylan-via-Lou Reed monotone delivery on race, society, and individual perception. The songs mismatched segments persist for so long that they go from potentially grating to strangely lulling, not unlike Gillian Welchs ghostly epic "I Dream a Highway" or Dylans "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," songs that stick around so much longer than expected that they become meditations unto themselves. Its an unexpected highlight of the album, and is followed immediately by the head-scratching instrumental pseudo-smooth jazz of "It Means a Lot to Know You Care." Thats not the only bizarre sidestep of the extensive set. The lyrics of the almost unlistenable sleaze rock romp of "Satan Is My Toy" experiment with the meeting of religious and sexual themes only a few notches above AC/DCs locker-room innuendo, and almost every time the arrangements veer away from sleepy acoustic instruments, the shifts can be jarring. The issue with Big Wheel is that the standout tracks are as brilliant as the filler is confusing, and both are represented more or less equally. A loving cover of Thin Lizzys "Honesty Is No Excuse" is delivered with the same shambling feel as Dylans Self Portrait material, and Karen Black contributes lead vocals to one of two versions here of the especially strong "Brighter!," but every fantastic song is cushioned by an anonymous-feeling mediocre one. While those already enamored with McCombs lyrical approach and subdued songwriting might find more of immediate value here than the uninitiated, theres a lot to sift through, even for fans, and it might be difficult to keep focus through the entire sometimes befuddling set. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 13 Title: A Folk Set Apart Released: 2015-12-11 Tracks: 19 Duration: 1:14:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Cannot Lie (03:00) 2 A.Y.D. (04:06) 3 Oatmeal (02:33) 4 Twins (05:32) 5 Minimum Wage (03:05) 6 Poets Day (02:45) 7 An Other (03:55) 8 Bradley Manning (03:54) 9 Evangeline (03:31) 10 Empty Promises (04:25) 11 If You Loved Me Before… (03:55) 12 Three Men Sitting on a Hollow Log (04:41) 13 Lost River/Old River (02:14) 14 Old as Angry (04:40) 15 Texas (06:22) 16 Night of the World (02:23) 17 Traffic of Souls (05:02) 18 Catacombs Cow Cow Boogie (03:53) 19 The State Will Take Care of Me (04:26) |
| A Folk Set Apart : Allmusic album Review : Arriving two years after 2013s sprawling 22-track behemoth Big Wheel and Others, Californian indie bard Cass McCombs issues his first anthology, a similarly lengthy set of rarities called A Folk Set Apart. Culled from over a decades worth of home and studio recordings, this is certainly the cabinet of curiosities youd expect from the prolific singer/songwriter. Many of these tracks initially saw release as small-batch split singles and B-sides and theyre arranged here in a very loose chronological order. The wry observations and dusty lo-fi tones of his 2003 debut are mirrored here by shambling castoffs from the same era, like the early single "I Cannot Lie" and "Oatmeal," a previously unreleased cut whose painfully harsh, scuzzy production borders on unlistenable. But McCombs range has always been part of his appeal and the two tracks that follow are among the albums brightest highlights. The lush psych ballad "Twins," taken from the backside of a 2004 4AD single, is a total enchantment and 2009s "Minimum Wage," with its eerily cascading guitar part, is as crafty a pop song as youll hear. "Bradley Manning," a darkly slinky ballad about transgender military whistleblower Chelsea Manning, is one of the most affecting tracks McCombs has produced. Throughout the second half of the albums 19 tracks, a display of McCombs various guises plays out on the jangly power pop of "Evangeline," the old-time folk of "Three Men Sitting on a Hollow Log," and the woolly psychedelia of "Texas," an oddball bit of Western-inspired flimflam that features Phishs Mike Gordon, some dramatic group lyric recitation, and a bit of hardcore slide whistle improv. By the nature of its content and assemblage, theres not a lot of flow on A Folk Set Apart and some of the tracks might have best been left behind, but there is enough strong material here to attract new fans and provide longtime listeners a deeper look into McCombs curious world. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 13 Title: Mangy Love Released: 2016-08-26 Tracks: 12 Duration: 59:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Bum Bum Bum (04:59) 2 Rancid Girl (04:22) 3 Laughter Is the Best Medicine (05:18) 4 Opposite House (04:14) 5 Medusas Outhouse (04:55) 6 Low Flyin Bird (06:01) 7 Cry (04:45) 8 Run Sister Run (05:51) 9 In a Chinese Alley (03:15) 10 It (05:11) 11 Switch (04:14) 12 Im a Shoe (06:06) |
| Mangy Love : Allmusic album Review : Mangy Love marks the eighth long-player for Cass McCombs, who, fans will be happy to hear, continues to hold form as a refreshing renegade on his game. The singer/songwriter takes on the messiness of life including timely sociopolitical topics, with grooving accompaniment that makes it go down breezily. Along the way, he dips into psychedelia, reggae, Baroque pop, funk, and more. Compared to the mercurial 22-track set that was 2013s Big Wheel and Others, Mangy Love sounds focused and determined, even given a certain amount of style sampling. The album kicks off with "Bum Bum Bum," a 70s soft rock stroller that comments on the military-industrial complex and its enablers, including the drumming pun "bum bum bum." Later, "Run Sister Run" addresses systematic misogyny with tropical rhythms and hand percussion ("Hiding behind a Supreme Court urinal"). The LPs lead single, "Opposite House," features fellow indie darling Angel Olsen on backing vocals. Slow-grooving bass and rhythm guitar, strings, and vibraphone set a chill tone for absurdist lyrics like "From the window I can see/You coming back to me/How can this be?/My windows a tree." Olsen is one of many guests on the album, including Blake Mills ("Low Flyin Bird"), Stuart Bogie ("Laughter Is the Best Medicine"), and HOOPS, the latter of whom appears on the psychedelic "It" ("It is not wealth to have more than others/It is not peace when others are in pain"). The roster of contributors is employed tastefully, as the album stays consistently coherent and low-key. Though those who dont process the lyrics will be missing a lauded part of the McCombs experience, Mangy Love, arguably more than ever, works as a musical expression alone, mixing the sometimes caustic lyrics and roguish indie touches with an overriding smooth 70s veneer. For those who take it all in, the album engages both the intellectual and aural pleasure centers. Or, to quote Mangy Love, its "Sugar and spice and everything weird." | ||
 | Album: 13 of 13 Title: Tip of the Sphere Released: 2019-02-08 Tracks: 11 Duration: 57:37 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Followed the River South to What (07:37) 2 The Great Pixley Train Robbery (04:01) 3 Estrella (04:37) 4 Absentee (02:49) 5 Real Life (05:15) 6 Sleeping Volcanoes (04:27) 7 Sidewalk Bop After Suicide (04:27) 8 Prayer for Another Day (04:54) 9 American Canyon Sutra (04:46) 10 Tying Up Loose Ends (04:35) 11 Rounder (10:09) |