The Felice Brothers "Ponzi" by fatpossum

On May 10th, The Felice Brothers are releasing their fourth disc, Celebration, Florida, which also marks their debut on the Fat Possum label. This disc is an adventurous step forward for the band as they combine their core "Americana" sound with elements of acid jazz, bass-heavy dance beats, pounding tribal drums and a mixture of sound bites to come up with an eleven-track offering that is both darkly beautiful but subliminally disturbing.

While the majority of The Felice Brothers past work was recorded in a converted chicken coop in upstate New York, this new disc was recorded in the gymnasium and theater of Beacon, NY’s old high school and it is richly textured with unexpected instrumentation flowing in and out of each song. The disc starts off strong with the roaring "Fire at the Pageant" which combines a stomping rhythm with Ian's off-kilter narrative and mixture of children's schoolyard vocals which cuts away to an acoustic outro. One of the other adventerous cuts is "Ponzi" which starts with soundbites from the movie Charade and includes elements of electronica and acid jazz. There is still enough elements of rustic Americana on this disc to keep the Bob Dylan/Band comparisons flowing for another few years and one example of this is the disc closer "River Jordan".



The band hasn't lost their dark, narrative story-telling ability and continue to weave grim tales of loss and dispair. Among the tales on Celebration Florida are: a late night host recounting his rise to fame to his honeybee while traveling in a private jet ("Dallas"); shady degenerates who get lost in a mystery concerning a Honda Civic ("Honda Civic"); a young girl who crimps her hair and spies her dead father driving down the road ("Fire at the Pageant"); and a Wall Street scandal that hits a little too close to home ("Ponzi").



The Felice Brothers played two sold-out shows at Maxwell's in March and are coming back through in May for two shows at The Bell House. The shows are on May 18th and 19th and the opening bands for both nights are Shovels and Rope and Rig 1. Advance tickets for each of the nights is $20.

Links:
The Felice Brothers