New music: Caleb Groh - Down, Dakota!

Words // Scott Pingeton

As I tend to do from time to time, I was surfing blindly through the catacombs of Bandcamp over the weekend and stumbled upon this little gem.  The opening banjo plucks on "All That Sultry Summer Long" off Caleb Groh's brand-spanking-new Down, Dakota! EP caught my ear and didn't let go until the final notes of "Tegucigalpa" faded away.  At which point I promptly downloaded the entire thing and put it on repeat.  If you know Groh's previous work under the Happiest Lion moniker you'll likely dig the new stuff.  Compared to what I know of Happiest Lion, the new material trades in a little bit of polish for an organic, off-the-cuff sound and more focused and mature songwriting.  I personally love the freewheelin' vibe these songs have.

The record opens with "All That Sultry Summer Long" - a breezy banjo-driven summer hymn that bounces along carefree on handclaps and harmonica fills.  "Matter of Moons" is a beat-inspired spoken word poem that is every bit as musical in its delivery as the actual songs in this collection.  "Cairo" is a herky-jerky stomper that channels a wordy young Dylan and a little bit of ramshackle punk spirit.  "Tegucigalpa" takes a simple, hummable melody adds a shuffling beat and wraps it in gently-plucked banjo and more harmonica.  Clocking in at around 10 minutes it leaves me wanting more.  It might take a while for these songs to leave my rotation, but I'm anxious to hear more from one of Boston's best young songwriters.  The first 200 downloads from Groh's bandcamp page are 'pay what you want', but I'd gladly shell out some hard-earned dollahs for this.