Tuesday, June 25, 2019

St. Christopher Medal - Hoof!


St. Christopher Medal is a new old band.  Under that name, they began recording quite recently.  However, four of the five members comprised Life With Nixon, a Scottish band that ended its run in the '90s.  It seems that friendship and a love of music have a glue-like property, so the world of music now has St. Christopher Medal and St. Christopher Medal have a new album titled Hoof!  Perhaps surprisingly given the scattered UK location of most of the band (one of the members now resides in the US), the dominant flavors here are country rock and Americana.  But Hoof! also happens to be one of the finest country rock and Americana albums we have heard in a very long time.  The songwriting reflects experience, perspective and a keen observational eye.  Similarly, the performances are of the sort one can only expect of performers with years of experience and familiarity with each other.  The songs are warm, reflective, melodic, and richly detailed.  For those of us no longer in our 20s or 30s, this album is life set to music, and it makes a strong case for a place on our essential playlist.

We embedded a few of our favorites below, but it hurt to not include more, including the lovely "Diablo", "Baseball Jacket" and "The Desert Wind And The Jazz Wolf".  Suffice it to say that if you don't choose to listen to the entire album, you are cheating yourself.  Visit the Bandcamp link below; you can thank us later.

St. Christopher Medal are Ali Mathieson, Kenny Mathieson, Billy Nisbet, David Mack, and Andy Jeffries, with additional contributions by Liam Cassidy and Steph Fraser.  Hoof! is out now in CD, vinyl, and digital formats via Stereogram Recordings.










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Bandcamp for Hoof!
Stereogram Recordings

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