At The Party With My Brown Friends, the new record from Black Belt Eagle Scout, is the sort of release that succeeds almost more for what it represents than for what it is. Out on Friday via the Saddle Creek label, the album from Katherine Paul offers up emotional folk-tinged rock from the singer and multi-instrumentalist who the press materials described as a "radical indigenous queer feminist". And while those labels might help this reach certain audiences, the tunes here are what matter most in terms of making At The Party With My Brown Friends work so well, especially so when one remembers that Paul played every instrument on this.
"My Heart Dreams" positively aches, a bracing, forward-moving bit of business, while "I Said I Wouldn't Write This Song" is even better. An almost painful number, Paul makes this sort of composition instantly accessible thanks to the simplicity of the presentation, and subtle punch of the instrumentation here. If this cut, and the supple "Scorpio Moon", sound a tiny bit like early Suzanne Vega, Katherine Paul has a lighter touch, one that enables her to make big points with a deftness that's really impressive. There is, admittedly, a sameness to the music on At The Party With My Brown Friends, but the good intentions behind this make that forgivable, as does the dream-pop swoon of "Run It To Ya", one of the real highlights here.
At The Party With My Brown Friends is out on Friday via Saddle Creek.
More details on Black Belt Eagle Scout via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Sarah Cass]