#FeatureFriday Modern Folk Band by The Modern Folk

Feature Friday
Comments

Modern Folk Band is the latest (and first studio recorded) collection of tracks in the orbit of Portland-based songwriter, musician, improvisor, cartographer J Moss. This latest tape is a full band affair tackling original compositions and traditional tunes with local Portland engineer Skyler Pia on the sliders. The resulting tracks are punchy, driving and playful with the band having a blast riding along in bouncy, fun arrangements of tunes. A really sparkly hi fi fleshed out full band collection in the incredibly prolific catalog of The Modern Folk – Bandcamp

The cool thing about Bandcamp to me goes further than just its generally Indie-friendly model, it’s the whole curation through tons of articles that help any unguided wannabe independent music connoisseur on their way also. Just last week for example they ran this article about some recent Country Music releases. And maybe it was partly because of my morbid curiosity but surely also because I’m just a slut for John Denver’s sweet tones but I clicked on that article faster than you can say ‘slide guitar’. And I was glad I did since it was filled with quality material ranging from classic and poppy to more Indie/Alt varieties of said genre.

But there was one outlier in particular I was really smitten by and that was ‘Modern Folk Band’ by The Modern Folk. I was immediately taken by this leftfield and more atmospheric spin on Country Music. It sounds passingly familiar enough to recognize it as Country Music, it honks and it tonks for sure but at the same time there’s something hauntingly ethereal about the sound as well. Listening to it evokes this feeling of having picked up a random record in a thrift store of this obscure artist you never heard of before but it had such cool cover art so you just had to take it home. That, but it’s as if the record doesn’t quite belong in this dimension but fell through an anomaly into our universe. It feels otherworldly yet reassuringly familiar at the same time.

And this is mostly achieved through some eerie background atmospherics that are in some way or form present in each track. They always seem acoustic in nature but processed in such a way that adds an eerie yet cozy layer to the music reminiscent of a haunted organ at times or a spectral strings quartet. Kinda like a member of the band was just jamming on an Ambient track while the rest of the band was playing the song. It all adds a whimsical sense of Psychedelica in regards to its more experimental side so that it never ends up feeling dark or depressing. It’s experimental and it’s weird but it doesn’t make it unlistenable to more casual ears either. But if you appreciate that weird aspect, it just adds an extra layer for you to delve into.

Eveyweveydevey

If there’d be a prize for accurate band names, the Modern Folk Band would be a sure bet to win it. Mixing traditional Bluegrass sounds with drones of varying subtlety and intensity, this project established a unique style, that gives the audience something familiar and introduces more texture and space.

Over the runtime of the 11 tracks on this album, the listener is drifting along through mostly instrumental soundscapes that feel, to me at least, wide open and calm, almost serene. More common instruments – like guitar, bass, drums, harmonica – provide melody and rhythm, mostly at an even pace. The big exception is the song “Stargazing”, which varies its tempo and works itself into a frenzy towards the end. I’d be curious what that sound at the beginning of the track was, however; to me it sounded like a guttural from a pig…

Vocals are used only in the interpretation of “Roving Gambler” and the final song, the humorous “I Don’t Want To Be An Abductee”. J’s voice is perfect for folk songs like these two; there is obvious strength and clarity in it, while hitting a tone that feels grounded and “real”.

This is one of these albums that don’t get boring, even if you listen to it several times in a row. The combination of traditional and more experimental sounds gives it it’s own unique feel, while the tempo moves everything along at a pretty brisk, but not too fast pace. And as I said in the beginning, the sensation of texture and space is pretty fantastic. Definitively not an album that should be missed!

Florgoth

An album that seems to just move along with simple melodies, an improvised series of musical motifs. The overall sound gives the impression that this was all recorded at the same time. For me it becomes more interesting when it hit’s track 5, Roving Gambler, the vocals hit the pocket and the arrangement opens up from what came before. That feels intentional and it blows this wide open. It takes patience to get there but it is well worth the effort so don’t skip, you can’t have your pudding ig you don’t eat your meat!

From here in it reveals itself, picks up in groove, hints at Brian Jonestown Massacre and settles in for a fine second half. It turns around and recycles some previous ideas and becomes more cohesive. You finally get it. The arrangements get lively, a little bit raunchier, the modern folk makes more sense. Almost like a barn dance and then it flips on track 8 to a Neil Young(Tonight’s the Night) meets Giant Sand and the shift in gears is a real pivot that works really well. The guitar gets a little dirtier, the contrast of a slower more pensive track having the heavier guitars and the lilting harmonica makes this my favorite track because it is so unexpected but totally in tune with the album as a whole.

I’ll admit that I prefer the slower paced songs as I feel they work best but this is an album of great contrasts. Recommended.

Untidy Music

Updated: April 17, 2026 — 5:42 am

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.