The words and the wearily resigned tone in which they’re delivered strongly suggest that the currently North Carolina-based songwriter, singer and guitarist has added a new entry to the steadily growing catalogue of break-up albums.
In stark contrast to the norms of this heartbreak-fuelled subcategory that every serious songwriter is dutybound to dabble in, there’s nothing bitter or morose about Bite Down. There are bittersweet glances at happier times (the breezy opener "On Tonight"), regret-filled ruminations (“Is It Too Late”) and tunes that look at that newly empty space with some trepidation (the raucous hoedown "My Kind"). However, Middleman's songs are infused with a steely determination to get through it and move on, anchored by an acceptance that all things run their course.
The absolute alchemy of the near-telepathic musical
connection between Rosali and her now regular recording companions Mowed
Sound (joined here by Destroyer’s Ted Bois on keyboards) is simply too
joyous for the needle to dip anywhere near the depressive regions.
Rosali has spent time on the road with Portland, Oregon’s masters of
propulsive psych-country levitation Rose City Band, and the arrangements
here (while remaining firmly rooted in warm and wise songcraft) draw
from a similar well of organically sprawling yet economically
administered musical exchanges.
“Rewind” is a prime example loose-limbed country rock and
“Hopeless” sounds like a classic FM radio staple (with an earthily
breezy glide that belies the troubled contemplation of the lyrics),
while the title track straddles a nimble, funky groove and the stunning
slow-burn of the hymnal closer “May It Be On Offer” flickers on a low
flame like a particularly blissful ethereal bit in an epic Grateful Dead
wig-out. The proceedings really heat up whenever the not so much
duelling as spikily hugging guitars of David Nance and James Schroeder
(and Middleman) enter the frame. Many songwriters would have chosen to
emphasise the wounded beauty of a tune as powerfully moving as “Hills on
Fire” with a minimalist arrangement: Middleman and co. splatter it with
jagged, molten splashes of lead guitar abstractions, which sound like
the instrument is writhing through the later stages of being burned
alive, but in a good way. The more conventionally sizzling fretboard
face-offs of “Change Is In The Form” are equally intense, resembling two
Neil Youngs out-shredding each other while Crazy Horse maintains a
steely and grizzled pulse.
Bite Down, then, is a rare record. It excels both
as a richly resonant, often deeply beautiful gem. It is singer-songwriter
introspection and a high octane field recording from an unusually
fertile and harmonious gathering of five likeminded musicians at the
seam where hip country rock meets the wide-eyed extemporisations of
contemporary cosmically inclined psych-rock.
