Kodiak Deathbeds - Kodiak Deathbeds

How do you go from mad screaming vocals, death metal wails and speed guitar to a seemingly quiet walk through a beautiful park whistling and humming? Well, you throw all that out the window and form a girl-boy duet, strip it all down, and create wonderful songs that move from straight-up folk to alt-country and back to quiet again.

Kodiak Deathbeds, with one of the coolest group names around, is a two-person band; Derek Fudesco and Amber Webber, formerly of such bands as Black Mountain, Pretty Girls Make Graves, and Murder City Devils, and is the chemistry great or what?

While I’m not really a sucker for a pretty voice and an acoustic guitar, Kodiak Deathbeds new album of the same name, is a near-brilliant collection of quiet mid-tempo tracks laid down by a fantastic, wispy, strong singer and some quality acoustic strumming by the guitarist.  Sounding at times like early Neko Case, with her backing vocalist, and other times like those alt-country crooners like Nancy Griffin and Gillian Welch, such songs as the strong opening track, ‘Never Change’, on through ‘Gemini’ and ‘Borderline’ you get a sense that these two have conjured up a timeless chemistry.  Kodiak Deathbeds sound like they’ve been at it for years.

There are no weak tracks here, and the songs get under your skin rather quickly.  This is no doubt the best acoustic collaboration of two musicians this year (And hopefully they won’t tell the press they were just hanging out in their apartment between gigs line you hear so often.) Kodiak Deathbeds, hopefully, is the start of a great relationship.  Well worth your time and money if you dig Mazzy Star, early Waifs, Alt-folk of any kind, or just quality alternative music.