Timber and Steel

The Green Mohair Suits
13th April 2012, The Vanguard
Sydney

My name is Julie Stenton, I am Generation Y, and I like alt-country-bluegrass music.

There. I said it.

I like Aimee Mann, I like Neil Young, I like Ryan Adams, I like The Mountain Goats, I like Earle Scruggs, I like the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and, most recently, I like The Green Mohair Suits.

I like that Sarah Howells (Triple J) incorporates a little bit of this stuff into her Thursday night program, Roots ‘N’ All, but I’d REALLY like it if more of this stuff was played on the radio during the waking hours. Surely, I’m not alone.

Coincidentally, The Green Mohair Suits launched their new album at The Vanguard on Friday night (Triple J, are you smelling what I’m baking here? Wink, wink).

Their live performance was fun, engaging and energetic – even without the piano accordion and Elana Stone’s vocals as featured on the album. Self described as ‘Bluegrass Garage’, their songs are beguiling, quirky, frequently eccentric and sometimes sweary. With several singers on call in the band, they are also beautifully and diversely sung (if you haven’t heard Brian Campeau ‘do’ country, well, you need to take a look at your life, Old Man).

Lyrically, the style is classic country (“I only got one dollar, so I only play one chord”) and insanely catchy (“I’m a liar [He’s a liar], I’m a liar, liar, liar, liar”) and the album holds little gems like a song sung from the perspective of a bug, replete with bug-voice accompaniment. I’m not kidding. It is clear that these guys have been brought up on a very, very varied musical diet.

There was something for everyone at the gig (except green suits of any kind) and their freshly minted, eponymous album only further showcases their musical range. I like it, bugs and all (and if the broadcasters and record labels are looking for quirk or beauty with a difference to appeal to their listeners, these suits will likely impress them Suits).