October 2, 1998

3AM Sunday @ Fortune Otto's

Shhh! Did you hear that? That was Boston's Willard Grant Conspiracy in wig-out mode....

7 / 10 SHHH! DID YOU HEAR THAT? THAT WAS Boston's Willard Grant Conspiracy in wig-out mode. The sound of near-silence on either side of it was the rest of '3am Sunday...', the Willard's debut album, now released in the UK after the relative success of their second LP, 'Flying Low'.

A prime mover in the new acid-country coterie along with oddbods such as The Handsome Family and Lambchop, Willard Grant Conspiracy's modern prairie-folk ramblings convey weather-worn, grainy images of those salad days of youth. It makes you yearn for innocence lost, but doesn't force you into Hell's Depression along the way.

Robert Fisher's low-end vocal inflections are, in fact, pretty similar to Nick Cave's. Meanwhile, acoustic guitars, orchestral sweeps and all the trappings of trad country gently thrum alongside; with melancholia positively straining at the reins on songs like 'Morning Is The End Of The Day'. Their inclusion in the Hall Of Post-Country Fame is, indeed, guaranteed.

The final song, 'Chinese New Year (New York)' ends with the sound of distant fireworks. As a metaphor, it kinda says it all.

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