Cotton Mouth, photo by Allison Staton
If Cotton Mouth were a ship, Martin Horn would be its captain, standing resolutely in the bow, eyes on the horizon, while the sailors busied themselves on deck. In all truth, this will be a biased show review; Martin is an old friend and musical collaborator and is helping to record Nightwood’s next record (he also recorded our E.P.). In addition, Jeremy also drums in Cotton Mouth. None of this detracts from the fact that Cotton Mouth’s first show last Sunday was a great one.
Martin is a wonderful songwriter and his lyrics are romantic; the metaphors are opaque but still manage to make one feel stripped bare. Often the sparely sung lyrics sound like directives from one half asleep lover to another. The other gents of Cotton Mouth are actually all three members of Parlovr, the backing band if you will, and couldn’t be better suited for these songs. They lend the tunes a certain confidence and awesomeness that I couldn’t imagine any other three people bestowing. Jeremy laid down his trademark beats that were solid and kept the songs urgent. Louis diddled the black bass-synth-thing, leaning in close enough to kiss the keys, and the multitalented Alex played a rhythm guitar of sorts as well as some keys and vocals here and there. Martin’s clean cut appearance made me think of David Byrne, except without all of the nuttiness. Cotton Mouth were fun to watch without being overly bombastic. Martin’s reserved yet confident central stance and matter-of-factly delivered lines and guitar/piano riffs were offset by the other three gently boogeying in the background. It was wonderful to have been there to watch an old friend deliver songs in the way they were meant to be performed; with clarity and lots of heart.
You can check out the Dishwasher/Cotton Mouth split e.p. here.
- **
Check out Sarah’s somewhat pervy review of the Julie Doiron show on the Lickety Split smut zine blog!
“It’s happened more than once that I’ll be getting out of the pool at the YMCA and I see this really beautiful woman in her red sport swim suit and I’m admiring the curve of her bum and then I suddenly realize it’s Julie Doiron.”
