“Mulch” is inspired by and full of stories from Georgeanne Kalweit’s native land of Minnesota and her beloved Minneapolis. After more than twenty years of living in Italy, Georgeanne delves into the memories of a world that no longer exists in “Kate and Joan” where Georgeanne tells about her own upbringing and family in a sort of reckoning with the inexorable passage of time or in “Wetutanka”, the spoken word/song about an island that has witnessed many different lives and situations.
But “Mulch” also looks at current addictions and dependencies which society has adopted in order to survive through problems of the day, with the risk that some real monsters are created in the meantime as in “Hank’s Hour”, which inspired the video shot in Stockholm in March, 2013.
This second work by Kalweit and the Spokes maintains the alternative country, post-punk sound of their first album “Around the Edges” and is likewise populated by characters both real and imagined as in “Barbie Bit the Dust”, dedicated to the most famous doll in the world, a powerful icon which, though maybe a tad ‘outdated’, still manages to influence the collective imagination in regards to the idea of a female stereotype. The concept of solitude and alienation that characterizes modern man is also addressed as in “Liquor Lyle’s”.
“Georgeanne’s magnetic voice entices the listener into an extremely realistic atmosphere that is fine-tuned just to the right point, bringing to mind quite a few important names, among which first and foremost Patti Smith.” – Beat Magazine
“Modern traces of blues played with a post-punk attitude, revealing expertise and experience, not monochord in the least.” – Blow Up
“If the somewhat Noir vein that runs through the various genres cited, and which permeates the project in taking us on a mnemonic voyage amongst recordings by Nick Cave, Gun Club and Hugo Race, then it is the attentive, personal writing that really stands out in its ability to generate atmospheres fed by ideas of considerable substance.” – FuoriDalMucchio
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