The Loving Paupers - Ladders + The Loving Paupers with Victor Rice - The Ghost Of Ladders (Easy Star Records)

In de liner notes van ‘Ladders’ vat Don Letts de sound van de band als volgt samen: “Is it roots reggae? Is it lovers rock? No it’s The Loving Paupers! I don’t know how this Washington DC-based dub reggae outfit was brought up, but for the most part, like me, they seem to have been raised wit sixties pop hitting them in one ear and seventies reggae hitting them in the other!”.

Wij zouden hen dan weer in hetzelfde universum willen situeren waar ook acts als Hollie Cook, Resonators of Eva Lazarus zich helemaal thuis voelen (‘Groan Beneath The Weight’, ‘I’m Up Here’, ‘Beauty/Pain’…). De stem van frontvrouw Kelly Di Filippo is daar zeker geen onbelangrijke factor in en zelf zegt ze over haar songs: “I write my own sad pop melodies over trap beats, lots of harmonies. I often use the upbeat, which is easy for me to play on guitar and adds a percussive element. There is country in me, a psychedelic side, so I hope to be undefinable!”. Maar ook het toetsenwerk van Daniel Schneider is cruciaal. Gitarist Jorge Pezzimenti: “A lot of the sound of each record is based on the keyboards that Dan is doing the leads on. The ‘Lines’ album is very saturated in Mellotron, whereas the overwhelming keyboard sound of ‘Ladders’ is a Yamaha Portasound PSS-370; basically a shitty little keyboard that’s a glorified toy. We affectionally call it the “Jahmaha”!”.

De band timmert al aan de weg sinds 2016, maar zelfpromotie is niet hun sterkste kant. Jorge Pezzimenti: “We’re pretty bad at it, actually! We are like the worst self-promotors. We enjoy making the music, but we’re just like: “Man, wouldn’t it be great if someone came to my front door with a million-dollar check and just knocked and handed it to me.”.”.

Voor ‘Ladders’ kregen ze echter een duwtje in de rug van geluidstechnicus en producer Victor Rice. Die zorgde met ‘The Ghost Of Ladders’ (een knipoog naar Burning Spear’s ‘Ghost Of Marcus Garvey’) ondertussen ook al voor een zeer genietbare dubversie van het album zorgde. Jorge Pezzimenti: “We are excited for fans to hear these dub versions of these songs, because it highlights how much energy and focus we put on the instrumental layers in our songs.”.  

Rice zorgde er bovendien voor dat de Lovin Paupers op de radar van Easy Star Records belandden. Medeoprichter en CEO Eric Smith: “We were turned onto The Loving Paupers by way of our longtime collaborator and friend, Victor Rice. Victor has acted as an (unpaid) A&R for Easy Star Records over the years, putting artists on our radar through his dubs of their projects. If Victor dubs it, we inevitably dig it! Loving Paupers is a shining example of that.”.

Inhoudelijk verhullen de nummers van The Loving Paupers vaak meer dan een eerste luisterbeurt laat uitschijnen. Zo omschrijft Kelly Di Filippo opener Mary als: “It’s about the social masks that most wear, and the fear of being intimately known. It’s about manipulation and our relationships with our coping mechanisms.”. Titelnummer ‘Ladders’, dat al eerder als single verscheen, is dan weer het verhaal van iemand die een losbandig, misschien zelfs egoïstisch, leven heeft geleid, maar zich nu, met het einde in zicht, alleen en leeg voelt.

The Loving Paupers vervolgen met ‘Big Boys’ een verhaal over volwassen worden dat vertelt wordt door middel van het vernoemen van het type wagens waarin het personage zich op een bepaalde leeftijd verplaatste. Kelly Di Filippo: “We got together and talked about different stages of our lives, and how you can get more power as you get older. We’ve really enjoyed hearing everyone’s connections to this song. We like to think that people really look back to themselves at 15, 18, 21, 25, and so on. What car you were driving or riding in can be a good barometer of where you are in life.”.

Grappig (en enigszins herkenbaar) is dan weer ‘Mr. Selector’ waarin een selector en iemand uit het publiek het grondig oneens zijn over de muziekkeuze:

I work so hard all day
I need a bit of escapism
What will the DJ play
At the club with the strong rhythm?
Perhaps a spongy choice
To galvanize all the girls and boys
But when I walk into the place
Shoddy tracks all up in my face
I make my way to the DJ booth
And I hear myself say

Hey Mr. Selector
Why won’t you just play my song?
You keep spinning nonsense
And all of the vibes are wrong
So, Mr. Selector
It’s my time to make a fuss
Cause what you’ve been playing
May cause a mass exodus

I work so hard all night
I DJ ‘til the morning light
And cast the pearls before the swine
Distribute culture to the Philistine
I’m really put to the test
With all their asinine requests
The job it takes tenacity, to weather their audacity
A fool walks to my DJ booth and I swear I hear him say

Hey Mr. Selector
Why won’t you just play my song?
You keep spinning nonsense
And all of the vibes are wrong
So Mr. Selector
It’s my time to make a fuss
Cause what you’ve been playing
May cause a mass exodus
…

Voor ‘Enveloped In Darkness’ greep De Filippo dan weer terug naar haar eigen ervaringen met depressie: “I thought my depression was eternal. I used to wake up in despair, unable to leave my bed. But I was able to climb out of the hole!”.  Jorge Pezzimenti voegt toe: “I think most people can find therapy in music, and we know that therapy is not always accessible to all, so the idea of someone possibly listening to a song of ours and feeling seen and heard, is one of the greatest byproducts of art.”.

Met het nagebootste tropische geluid van een steelpan belanden we bij ‘I’m Up Here’, over een liefdesrelatie die nooit tot volledig bloei kwam. Kelly Di Filippo: “This was written when my ex started dating my neighbour, after we opened up our relationship.”.

In het bijna als een wiegeliedje klinkende ‘Beauty/Pain’ bezingt Di Filippo tenslotte de dualiteit van het leven:

There is beauty wherever you are
There is beauty wherever you are

There is pain wherever you are
There is pain wherever you are

And things will always be the same, and you are
And things are always going to change, and you are

There is cruelty wherever you are
There is cruelty wherever you are

There is trust wherever you are
There is trust wherever you are

And things will always be the same, and you are
And things are always going to change, and you are

Maybe love
Maybe love

And things will always be the same, and you are
And things are always going to change, and you are
And things will always be the same, and you are

Maybe love
Maybe love
Maybe love
Maybe love 

Het album besluit met ‘Come My Selector’, een dubby versie van ‘Mr. Selector’ waarvoor de band niemand minder dan deejay-legende Ranking Joe wist te strikken!

Uitstekende langspeler van een Amerikaanse band waarvan u het zich niet kunt veroorloven ze beter te leren kennen. Ontdekking!