Gothic Americana Music

“Without A Trace” EP Preview Player

Listen to previews of the 3 tracks on the new Heathen Apostles Without A Trace EP, available for digital download or on a great download gift card. BUY ITUNES BUY AMAZON BUY DOWNLOAD CARD

WITHOUTATRACE iTunes lo resLiner Notes:

Mather Louth – vocals
Chopper Franklin – guitar, banjo, mandolin, keyboards
Viktor Phoenix – banjo, mandolin
Luis Mascaro – fiddle
Thomas Lorioux – upright bass
Stevyn Grey – drums

Michael Livingston – mandolin

Produced & Mixed by Chopper Franklin
Recorded at the Devil’s Doghouse, Echo Park, California

 

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1.Without A Trace (Louth/Franklin)
2. Before You Go (Louth/Franklin)
3. Lily of the West (trad.)

RE VIEW – The Examiner by James G. Carlson
‘Without A Trace’ by Heathen Apostles
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

If there is such a thing in the current fringe roots genre as a supergroup, it would certainly be the Los Angeles-based dark roots and alt-country band Heathen Apostles, whose participating artists include ex-members of Radio Noir (Mather Louth), The Cramps (Chopper Franklin), Kings of Nuthin’ (Thomas Lorioux), and Christian Death (Stevyn Grey) in its ranks. That is one hell of a lineup. And their collective musical output is equally impressive.

Heathen Apostles made quite an entrance on to the scene with their debut full-length album, Boot Hill Hymnal. And now, this gothic outsider country and dark roots quintet have written and released a new EP of material on Ratchet Blade Records, titled Without A Trace. This three-song release is a worthy follow-up to Boot Hill Hymnal, even though the three songs go by all too quickly at a little over ten minutes. Quite simply, this is one of those quality over quantity things.

Without A Trace opens with the EP’s title track, moving from wild Irish folk-like fiddle, a beat akin to marching drums, and punctuating strums, to somewhat of a country punk bit, all with Louth’s strong vocals. “Before You Go,” the second track, is a slower gothic country offering, with clear strumming, string picking, a beat that carries the song structure forward, subtle yet effective bass, and Louth’s voice at its most hauntingly beautiful on the EP. The Closer, “Lily of the West,” is a countrified murder ballad and arguably the best song on the release.

Without A Trace EP Lyrics – Click to Expand/Close

1. WITHOUT A TRACE

Where, oh where are those gray eyes like arrows?
Dark hair the shade of raven’s wing
Do they now find their sleep ‘neath the barrows?
No message does the nightbird bring

I begged and pleaded daily
Implored on bended knee
The one I love so madly
Return him back to me

Midnight winds roll through weeping willows
Constellations doomed to form your face (hallelujah)
Fifteen miles east of Amarillo
Lover lost and gone without a trace

Once we walked hand in hand through the meadows
My feet now wander without aim
Our days of summer now cast in shadows
Never again to bear his name

I begged and pleaded daily
Implored on bended knee
The one I love so madly
Return back to me

Midnight winds roll through weeping willows
Constellations doomed to form your face (hallelujah)
Fifteen miles east of Amarillo
Lover lost and gone without a trace

I begged and pleaded daily
Implored on bended knee
The one I love so madly
Return him back to me!!

(choruses)

Alone….Alone…Alone…Alone…

2. BEFORE YOU GO

Before you go and twist the knife, dear
Lay your plastic on my floor
If my life is yours tonight here
Then at least I’d bleed no more

We stumbled ever blindly
Never reaching common ground
The years have not been kindly
There’s no hope left to be found

Best to stand and lay your aim
If I am to fall by your bow
Then I’ll shoulder no more blame

We crumbled while politely
Tred over the truth inside
Remained just to seem rightly
Now all that was good has died

To be found, to be found
We buried our love in the ground

Before you go and wish me dead, dear
Choose the plot where I will lay
I’ve learned better than to shed tears
O’er a love that’s run astray

(choruses)

3. LILY OF THE WEST

When first I come to Louisville, my fortune there to find
There was a maiden there from Lexington was pleasing to my mind
Her rosy cheeks, her ruby lips, like arrows pierced my breast
And the name she bore was Flora, the lily of the west.

I courted lovely Flora some pleasure there to find
But she turned unto another man which so distressed my mind
She robbed me of my liberty, deprived me of my rest
Still I loved my faithless Flora, the lily of the west.

It was down in yonder shady grove, with a man of high degree
Conversin’ with my Flora there, seemed so strange to me
The answers that she gave to him sore did my heart address
I was betrayed by Flora, the lily of the west.

I stood up my rival, my dagger in my hand
I seized him by the collar, and boldly made him stand
In an act of desperation I pierced him in the breast
All this for lovely Flora, the lily of the west.

I had to stand my trial, and I had to make my plea
They put me in a criminal box and made a mess of me
Although she’s thrown my life away, deprived me of the rest
Still I love my faithless Flora, the Lily of the west.

 copyright 2014 Mather Louth Creative/Ratchet Blade Music