(2020) Mossy Kilcher - Northwind Calling (1977, Reissue)


Review:
Over the years, unearthed folk records by lost sirens have made their way beyond hardcore collectors into the collective consciousness of the indie music-buying public: Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs, Sibylle Baier, Tia Blake, Connie Converse, to name a few. One such artist recorded a self-released (and now, very expensive) double LP in 1977, issued under her name at the time – Mossy Davidson – mainly for her family and friends. What sets Mossy Kilcher apart from the other Lost Women of Song is that she is from… Alaska. And the album is a love letter to the land outside of Homer where her family built a homestead and lived as pioneers beginning in the late 1930’s, and where she resides to this day. Some may remember the Kilchers from a reality show, ‘Alaska: The Last Frontier,’ which premiered on Discovery Channel in December 2011. A musical family, the Kilchers also produced Alaska’s most successful recording artist of all time, Mossy’s niece, Jewel. Jewel lived with Mossy at Seaside Farm in Homer as a teenager. “Jewel would be my horse-riding sidekick, helping me out on the farm,” Mossy said. The two performed together on a televised Christmas special filmed in Nashville in 2016. Musically, ‘Northwind Calling’ is fascinating all on its own, even without the backstory. The gentle accompaniment of 12 and 6-string guitar, harmonica, banjo, flute and piano is so sympathetic and exquisitely placed. Mossy’s reedy woodwind of a voice is full of feeling and seemingly untainted by and firmly outside the era’s commercial singer-songwriter machinery or conventions. A tinge of unintended psychedelia and natural sound effects take it all over the top.





Tracklist:
1.So Long!! 03:41
2.Fox Sparrow 02:18
3.Sea Man 02:45
4.Day Dream Land 02:31
5.Northwind Calling 03:36
6.Coyote's Cry 02:29
7.Going To Blow 03:50
8.What Is That Light 03:37
9.Eagle, Goodbye! 02:10
10.Little Brown Violins 03:14
11.Cloudy Day 03:59
12.It's Harder to be Left Behind 02:45
13.Alone Too Long 03:12
14.Where Does This River Flow 03:46
15.Flag of Green Lands Flying 03:32
16.Rainfall 02:12
17.Mother's Song 03:06
18.Changes, Changes 02:41
19.Birds of Passage 03:36
20.Come Back, Come Back 04:04


Media Report:
Genre: folk
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits