@ Pilot Light, Knoxville, November 30
by Andrew Clayman
Published in The Metro Pulse, November 2007
On September 11, 2001, while the rest of the world was hunkering down for Armageddon, Scottish folksman Alasdair Roberts was far away from it all, singing sea shanties in a secluded Louisville studio with his similarly melancholy mates Will Oldham (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) and Jason Molina (Magnolia Electric Co.). At the time, nobody knew—nor would they have cared in the slightest—that these three lo-fi, indie-folk heroes had joined forces for a one-off supergroup called The Amalgamated Sons of Rest. Based on the songs they recorded during their three-day session, it’s also fair to wonder if the Sons of Rest themselves had any idea what was going on in the world around them.
For Roberts, this sense of separation is present in much of his solo work, as well. His earnest brand of pastoral Scottish folk balladry is satisfyingly out-of-time with the impersonal world of iPods and pop-up ads in which he performs, and it also pulls from the same vine as mighty British folk-rock acts of yore like Fairport Convention and Pentangle. This is especially true of Roberts’ fourth and most recent solo release, The Amber Gatherers, which includes a full backing band and some of the finest songwriting of his career. It’s damn near impossible to tell the album’s traditionals from its originals, and for Roberts, that just might be the highest compliment he could hope for.
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