{"id":41508,"date":"2009-05-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/august-moonshine\/"},"modified":"2009-05-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-15T00:00:00","slug":"august-moonshine","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/august-moonshine\/","title":{"rendered":"August Moonshine"},"content":{"rendered":"

August Moonshine <\/i>is the debut album from the wonderfully talented Californian-based musician Rich Mikolitch.\u00a0 The singer-songwriter recorded it at his home and played all the instruments (except some harmonica) and wrote almost the entire thing himself.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

For me, it was instantly accessible musically, falling somewhere ebetween Emmylou Harris and Russell Morris \u2013 not bad company at all.\u00a0 Mikolitch has blended acoustic arrangements punctuated with electric expressions of raw emotion into an enchanting bevy of songs that will seep into your subconscious with ease.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Opener \u201cAngels In May\u201d beautifully sets the tone for what is to come.\u00a0 It already has become a favorite of mine, no doubt due to its easy groove and introspective lyrics.\u00a0 Mikolitch\u2019s voice is not that of a natural singer\u2019s, but he uses it in a unique and endearing way.\u00a0 At times he sounds angst-ridden and other times sweetly romantic, but he delivers every note with soul, which was what drew me in instantly.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI Don\u2019t Know What It\u2019s Like\u201d follows next, and while lyrically its intentions may not be clear, musically it\u2019s a definite high point thanks to some awesome bluesy harmonica by Brandon Farr and sweet harmonies by Rich and his wife Jessica.\u00a0 \u201cScared Of The Dark\u201d is possibly the most \u201cradio-friendly\u201d song here.\u00a0 It was during my first listen with this track washing over me at 3 a.m. that I realized there was something special about what I was hearing.\u00a0 It\u2019s wholly original and yet instantly recognizable, heartbreaking and defiant at the same time.\u00a0 A true gem.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cFull Of Grace\u201d is right up my alley; an up-tempo acoustic arrangement augmented by a slow-burning electric guitar and Mikolitch\u2019s torched vocal delivery makes for musical heaven.\u00a0 His ability to evoke varying emotions with his voice is most prevalent here.\u00a0 Lyrically, it\u2019s one of the album\u2019s most prolific statements: \u201cAnd when the stars start to cave in \/ When I start to see the Devil\u2019s grin \/ When I search my soul where within \/ Can you help me to see again?\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cJust For Now\u201d and \u201cSunrise And Sunset\u201d are next and sit very comfortably together.\u00a0 Their lyrical introspection is countered by some brilliant musicianship steeped firmly in the roots genre while at times flirting with country (not a bad thing); together they compliment the album very well.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I Wake Up\u201d is another highlight and is a fine example of how quite often less is more.\u00a0 There are no drums here (as with the rest of the album), just bass and acoustic guitars driving the rhythm accented by a little percussion here and there.\u00a0 The album closes with the downtrodden man\u2019s lament \u201cRunning Away\u201d and leaves things on a rather somber note.\u00a0 Vocally, this is Rich\u2019s most soulful performance as he once again delivers goods amidst a swell of raw emotion. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Overall, August Moonshine <\/i>is a passionate expression of love and loss, all the while being a musical treasure trove of one man\u2019s talents and the first of hopefully many more releases to come.\u00a0 Although there is a deep sense of soul searching going on, it thankfully doesn\u2019t leave the listener as emotionally exhausted as some music can \u2013 you know, the type where the artist dumps all their shit on you so they can be rid of it themselves?\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s not the case here, probably due to it being a rather short affair, clocking in at a tad over 30 minutes.\u00a0 This is great for those late nights that never seem to pass, but I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d play it on a brilliant sunny day when spirits are high \u2013 it could take you to a place you\u2019d rather not be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":29887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8396],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41508","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-august-moonshine","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41508"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}