Month: August 2025

Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band: New Threats From the Soul

/ Bjørn Hammershaug / Leave a comment

From the opening lines of the title track on Ryan Davis’ new album New Threats From the Soul it’s pretty evident we’re invited on a poetically rich and vivid ride. Davis is an idiosyncratic songwriter and storyteller, well read and sharp eyed, imaginative with a wry sense of humor, he’s unveiling tales of a working class America as observed from a bar stool or the streets.

I jolted up to some new transference from a sliding door
On a sister vessel and just let it play through
I left my wallet in El Segundo
She had the kind of smile to get a blue swine in trouble

While the entire album is an artistic victory, I’ve chosen to highlight the opening song featuring lovely vocal harmonies from Freakwater’s Catherine Irwin; nine minutes of the most generous, effortless, ecstatic metamodern sounds of bummer country music you’ll hear the entire year. Or perhaps in a generation.

I will never be never be
Anything
Other than a caged bird swinging from a chain swing, whistlin’ for my payseed
Pecking on a W9

Ryan Davis is grounded in blue collar country and rock, and is the poster child for the burgeoning new Alt-Country scene, but he’s always been a musical chameleon difficult to pigeonhole. Over lengthy and epic songs he shares the poetic imagination of his late friend David Berman, the eclectic musical approach of Lambchop, the stark realism of Jason Molina, and the sardonic drawl of Bill Callahan — but most of all he’s created his very own unique musical language.

Even though Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band is a relatively new project – this is their second album – Davis himself has been around for more than a minute and is highly recognized as a driving force in the Louisville music scene as member of ramshackled country-punk band State Champion, founder of the Cropped Out festival and for more than 20 years running the Sophomore Lounge label. He’s always been great, but now it’s like time finally caught up with his music. It’s hard to think of anyone deserving success and recognition as much, and if there’s any justice left in this world he’ll be a superstar. Roll down the windows, turn up the volume and give it a listen.

This text was originally published on tidal.com/magazine August 1, 2025

Gwenifer Raymond: “Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark”

/ Bjørn Hammershaug / Leave a comment

The first taste from Welsh guitarist and banjoist Gwenifer Raymond’s forthcoming album, Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark, was a tribute to rocket scientist Jack Parsons, entitled “Jack Parsons Blues.” In addition to his pioneering engineering skills, Parsons, amongst many other fascinating aspects of his short life, was also known for converting to Aleister Crowley’s occult religion thelema at the end of the 1930s. This song might also be a nod to musical peers Six Organs of Admittance, who released “Blues for Jack Parsons” back in 2012. Now, Raymond returns with the second single and title track from her new album (due September 5).

I mention all this to give some context to how I understand the inventive and moving music of Gwenifer Raymond. Similar to Parsons, she is grounded in two worlds, one of tradition and lineage and one of experimentation and magick. In a statement, she described Jack Parsons as “oddly inspirational” and a person “full of boundless zeal and ideas. He was both a scientist and an embracer of the weird and esoteric.” Some of the same can be said for Raymond, who is deeply rooted in Mississippi blues, Appalachian folk, American Primitivism and the avant-garde — her world contains multitudes. There’s deep soil beneath her feet, but she’s not walking a well-trodden path, instead using the traditional to create something original and deeply personal.

Her two previous albums were both astonishing, but based on the new songs, she’s taking it even a step further this time. Her guitar playing is on fire, with more evolved textures and added sonic palettes. Raymond is proving that simple, fingerpicked guitars can rise from the earth, head towards the stars and contain the entire cosmos. And like Jack Parsons, she might actually be part scientist and part dark, spiritual leader.

This text was originally published on tidal.com/magazine August 8, 2025.

Ethel Cain: “Fuck Me Eyes”

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On her complex 2022 concept album Preacher’s Daughter, artist Ethel Cain (real name Hayden Silas Anhedönia) explored themes like abuse, sexuality, violence and religious trauma through the eyes of the troubled fictional character Ethel Cain. A Southern Gothic master class, it was also inspired by the artist’s real-life struggles — she grew up the daughter of a deacon in a Southern Baptist community in Florida.

A key track from Preacher’s Daughter is “A House in Nebraska,” where we’re introduced to her first and true love, Willoughby. This relationship is to be further examined on the upcoming album Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You (August 8).

The new album, set in 1986, is a prequel to Daughter, and follows (the character) Ethel Cain in her teenage years. “Fuck Me Eyes” is a synth-pop, shoegaze anthem, and the second single (following “Nettles”). “Continuing in the theme of high school anxieties, ‘Fuck Me Eyes’ (on top of being an homage to one of my favorite pop songs of all time, “Bette Davis Eyes”) is meant to be an ode to the girls who are perfect and have everything, yet carry the reputation of town slut,” says Cain creator Anhedönia in a statement.

Ethel Cain has already established herself as a unique and distinct talent, with a broad musical range and superior poetic strengths. If you haven’t entered her universe already, now is the time.

This text was originally published in tidal.com/magazine on July 4, 2025.

Photo: Dollie Kyarn, press