The circus at its best is not only a celebration of imagination and other worldly-wonders, but also of fear and danger. Each leap is made daring by rings of fire, and every trapeze swing or balanced walk across a tight rope made treacherous by the depth of the plunge beneath it.
So too is the music of Eau Claire, Wisconsin’s The Gentle Guest made extraordinary by danger. Its 1920′s Delta blues influenced Americana co-exists in a gypsy world of blaring trombones, sadistic slide guitars and a barrage of wild hollers and boot stomps. Singer/songwriter Eric Rykal’s web of folklore is tainted by mischief and the characters in his stories are burdened by moral conundrums wherein the lines between good and evil are not so clear.
“We’re going to turn this fucking world on it’s end tonight, look at me ma’, I’ve finally seen the light,” Rykal bellows on ‘Judgment’ from the band’s second full-length release, Cast Off Your Human Form. “I’ve been fed so long on wrong and right, but nothing I’ve known is so black and white.” Throughout the album he mingles with a cast of crooks, thieves and arsonists (‘Scatter the Ashes’), cold-blooded killers, bone-rolling witches and beasts (‘The Loaded Gun’), and scavenger crows, the prince of deceivers and the demons who sleep in his bed (‘The Morning Star’). These aren’t the enemies they’re usually made out to be. They’re simply the symbols that create this band’s bizarre riddle.
As important as its tales is the way The Gentle Guest tells them. Its performances are frantic, theatrical spectacles, with as many as ten rowdy members filling entire rooms with ragtime sounds and sweaty, fist-pumping energy. They travel with not only the ambition of young musicians and storytellers, but also the determination to ignite crowds. Rykal and friends set out to cause a ruckus amongst their audience, and they play with a fury as if they’d be damned not to. (Andy Plank)
