On Covers (Wax Trax, Pt. 6)
Murder By Death is a pretty big favourite in our house, so I tend to jump all over whatever they decide to release. Most recently that’s a newly-announced 7″ singles series produced with some of their closest friends.
The first volume features the impossibly-deep vocals of William Elliott Whitmore, a 30 year-old white dude from Iowa who sounds like a deep-south bluesman on his deathbed. Performing primarily with nothing more than a guitar or banjo for accompaniment, Whitmore has released five proper albums in the last six or seven years and toured extensively with mostly punk and hardcore bands.
One of those tourmates is Murder By Death, and on the release in question the two share songs. Whitmore covers In Bocca Al Lupo’s “Dynamite Mine” while MBD take on “One Man’s Shame.”
Whitmore’s take on what was already a sombre song results in an even more melancholic number, a song so devastatingly elegiac it’s painful. His vocals are ragged and flinty, lending a voice to the song’s subject that sounds like a man whose spent most of his life inside a mine, away from sunshine and clean air. There’s a real sense of credibility lent to the lyrics just from that voice. Furthermore, the spartan recording is enough to make you believe that the vibration of his banjo strings is practically bouncing off a wall of solid rock before striking your ear.
It’s exactly what split singles are made for: giving a lesser-known artist a chance to wow a wider audience by overshadowing their co-conspirator. William Elliott Whitmore pulls that off in spades. Something tells me he’s going to be worth a second look.
William Elliott Whitmore - Dynamite Mine [2:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Murder By Death - Dynamite Mine [3:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadThis split — as well as subsequent releases in the singles series and Murder By Death’s past albums — can be found through this webstore. William Elliott Whitmore has a webstore as well. For iTuners, look here and here.
