Brent Toland - Dominate The Moon

Hear The Track Here

To see the term 'folk' anywhere has been known to send men screaming to their doom, with its attendant images of beards and sandals it has too many hippie connotations for most people not to shudder when they hear its name. When you place that extremely small (and totally untrue) predjudice against the debt modern music owes to the genre, it seems very, very unfair. Mind you, in my misspent youth I also made music that some considered folk, especially when folk was in it's 'oi don't f*** with me' phase. I have a healthy respect and love for the genre because it has given us some truly groundbreaking music, and because it's often delivered on a political platform. To be fair though, the bulk of Brent's work is remarkably free of speeches, so just this one time let's indulge the man...

It's easy to make inevitable comparisons to Bob Dylan but that is superficial, Brent is also a guitarist and singer and there the comparison ends. I've always liked his willingness to stick to his guns and keep to what he considers authentic, and btw I completely understand and appreciate that, and it has become the main reason why I like what he does. Obviously it will not appeal to everyone even when it's carrying a peach of a song like Sing Your Song (April 2006) where went even further back in folk time and compared his performance on that to the immortal Woodie Guthrie.

There's a lot of that rough hew, home spun simpleness about Brent's work and Dominate the Moon is no exception. You can almost SEE the travel dirt when you hear that careworn, and infinitely lonesome vocal. There doesn't appear to be any lyrics posted for this track which, being a song with a political point to make (more stick for Georgie W), seems a bit odd. Still, what counts is the stuff that sluices around your ear canals and - being a diehard fan of the (original) genre - and on both these scores Brent gets a thumbs up from me. Granted, I don't think this is one of Brent better moments but its a strong song that he delivers as only he can. What more could you ask.?

More, maybe?