If you have ever heard the term “roots music” and wondered what such a tag relates to, the sound that Sado-Domestics make is as good an answer as any. Their third album, Camouflage: Stories by T.J. Gerlach, is an astute blend of the sounds and styles, sonics, and musical moods that are found swirling around in such a broad category.
Kicking off with “Dusk,” we find ourselves in a willfully ragged, indie-folk place, one that is wonderfully raw-edged and shot through with scratchy sonic salvos. From here, things ebb and flow between roots traditions and modern reinterpretation.
“Shades” is a folk ballad with an almost gothic undertone, picked mandolins dancing with spiralling sounds, dark and delicious twin harmonies set under a tumbling sky, and, by contrast, the brilliantly named “Love Letter, Or Lepidoptory” is a raw and spirited country-rock growl. “Photographs” is a lilting folky waltz and “Galaxy” wanders between spacious alt-pop and country ballad. And talking of country, if “Everyone is From the Past” isn’t the genre’s future, I’ll eat my hat!
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