Bonny Doon - Longwave

Put Detroit and music together and usually, the first two things that come to mind are Motown or the boisterous rock of Iggy & The Stooges or MC5. Of course, no matter how popular or known any of these are, that would certainly be a misconception, particularly these days. What about the unabashed, sophisticated pop of Anna Burch, or for that matter, music connected with one of the more freshly coined phrases like “Cosmic Americana”, in this case, represented by relative newcomers, Bonny Doon? Should they be taken into consideration, Anna Burch is getting her dues, but based on their second album Longwave, so should Bonny Doon (good buddies with Anna, by the way).

Personally, I’m not so sure what should be those cosmic elements that are coupled with Americana, but if it is long-forming (by long eaves?), languid tunes with improvisational elements akin to Grateful Dead’s American Beauty/Workingman’s Dead period, or more recently, missing in action band like Kingsbury Manx, then this is what Bonny Doon deliver.

The band doesn’t have such a long track record - their self-titled debut album only came out at a similar time in 2017, but it seems that they immediately started working out on this one, at an obviously inspiring place named Mystical Lake in Michigan. Whatever it was, they’ve come up with a real winner. The album certainly sounds like it is played in a cabin by the lake because there seem to be very little technical studio frills involved, and Bill Lennox, Bobby Colombo, Joshua Brooks and Jack Kmiecik will certainly have no problem replicating this sound live.

The moment the title track opens the album you get this wash of sound from acoustic and electric guitars, easy tempo rhythms that leave songs time to develop, and semi-hushed vocals that are neither overpowered nor do they overpower the music. You have the impression that the guys have just had a nice dinner and a couple bottles of wine and have simply picked up the instruments to see where the music will take them. While the musicianship is almost impeccable, Doon made sure that the immediacy of the recording remains intact, as at one point they seem to slip up and just keep on going. You pick it up if you can.

The thing is, you can practically spin this album any time of day or night and be sure that it will fit right in, while at no point turning into something like a musical wallpaper. This one will stay close to the listening deck throughout the year, trust me.