When The Band turned their back on the current trends of their day to explore the rustic heart of America, they more or less invented a whole new way of musically describing the subject matter at hand. In our current post-genre, access all areas world the musical vehicle that The Payroll Union use to travel back to their own, very specific, slice of the past (early 19th Century Philadelphia) seems less at odds with the times. A wonderfully rich blend of dark souled Americana, surly lo-fi indie and dark Nick Cave dynamics and deliveries yet the most surprising thing is that these black hearted historical narratives are the product of Sheffield, UK rather than the former colonies. It certainly is a small world and in the case of The Payroll Union it is also a dark, dangerous and alluring one.
[…] talking about their current single, The Mission Field, I compared The Payroll Union’s musical stance to that of The Band’s breaking with the […]