Cargo Records

The Mammoth Session

Their debut album ‘The Mammoth Sessions’ is redolent of sun-baked vacant lots, cracked runways, drifting tumble weed and dull orange rust. This collection of songs all sound like the aftermath of some emotionally violent event that has just left stillness and melancholia in its place. There are echoes of the (ex pat) Americana of The New Pornographers, a light dusting of the folk psychedelia of Smog and the torrid and threatening country death songs of PJ Harvey’s ‘To Bring You My Love’.

These 13 songs are anchored round the skewed and magnetic vision of singer/songwriter Teresa Maldonado and their brittle and skeletal songs are fleshed out by multi-instrumentalist Tiziano Hernandez (bass/guitars), Brad Thomason (drums) and Melly Rose (cello).

But that’s not to say that this recording sounds like it was handled by some kind of your mother’s your brother, lives in a barn hillman. One of many stand out tracks, ‘Snake & Sparrow’, creaks and echoes as if recorded in a haunted house, on haunted equipment. And the title track briefly effloresces violently as if the ghost of the Enola Gay were bringing its terrible cargo home, before returning to gentleness once more. From the most basic of set ups, a deeply affecting and subtle beauty is achieved.