Ink album review: Porlolo

Porlolo
Meadows
Pomade the Sun

The ghost of ’60s folk music continues to haunt the coffee shops and open-mic nights of the American landscape. Considered increasingly irrelevant by today’s music industry, folk snuck underground, where it quietly yet persistently maintains a subtle presence. Despite its unfashionable stigma, there are musicians out there who are not content to remain in the shadows. With a fresh take on an outdated sound, Colorado’s Porlolo is making a convincing case for the importance of folk in the new millennium with its latest, Meadows.

Porlolo frontwoman and songwriter Erin Roberts has the ability and vision to transcend the tired genre of the Woodstock era into a vibrant, living force that’s every bit as powerful as its louder musical rivals. Roberts doesn’t merely trill and strum through Meadows’ 11 tracks. Rather, she expands upon the traditional model with dynamic orchestration to enhance the distressed framework of her somber craft. The spirit of Joan Baez can still be heard, but it’s been delivered unto the future aware of its limitations and unafraid to invite much-needed change.

In addition to singing and playing guitar, Roberts also breaks out her trumpet on several tracks. Though probably too loud an instrument for a coffeehouse, on CD the smooth brass tones complement soft guitars, adding color and texture to Roberts’ uncomplicated songwriting. Strings, lap steel guitar, piano and even drums, the arch-enemy of folk, make welcome appearances on Meadows, ever pushing the boundaries of convention.

The additional instrumentation, while creating a richer, expansive sound, also tips an occasional hat to Colorado’s Western influence. Tracks like “Tear You Down” border on alt-country with clean, electric picking and upbeat, cowboy drumming bouncing over Roberts’ barely controlled heartbreak. Coming from the modern tradition of honest cruelty, Roberts pulls no punches. “Lately I’ve been thinking I would burn your bones to ashes” is certainly not a lyric you would hear from Peter, Paul and Mary.             

Bidding comparisons to pre-Pope-ripping Sinead O’Connor, Roberts’ voice has a stark, fluid quality. Like the Irish songstress, Roberts infuses raw emotion into Meadows, with no fear of using her natural volume to both lull and frighten when necessary. She never tries to be tough, allowing her exposed self-revelations to speak for themselves. The darker tracks such as “Lion In the Grass,” with its eerily beautiful strings and deliberate strumming, create near-perfect, if ominous, backdrops for Roberts’ haunting melodies.

For Porlolo, the more depressing the sound, the better. Other groups out there have “hope” plenty covered. Roberts shines the brightest when she’s the most dismal. 
— steven m. garcia { special to ink }