Pynchon Music: The Whole Sick Crew (NYC)
Saving Grace
The Whole Sick Crew (Brooklyn 2009?)
Maintaining a lonely vigil on Bandcamp is a mysterious album by a Brooklyn band named the Whole Sick Crew. The only information provided about the band is a Wikipedia quote that confirms their Pynchonian name:
V. is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Whole Sick Crew, and the quest of an aging traveller named Herbert Stencil to identify and locate the mysterious entity he knows only as “V.”
—Wikipedia
—Wikipedia
The Whole Sick Crew offers an earnest helping of lo-fi Americana with fuzzed-out electric guitar, a steady rhythm section, and occasional bursts of harmonica and mandolin. Neil Young and The Band are obvious influences, and the album fits in comfortably with the kind of sincere songwriting popular in the late 2000s—think of Mumford & Sons, the Fleet Foxes, the Lumineers, etc. While the Whole Sick Crew doesn’t have the manic energy of Mumford or the sweet, melodic artistry of the Foxes, Crack a Smile has a few genuinely catchy tunes, and the addition of a female back-up singer on a couple-three tracks is a welcome change of pace. Perhaps the most interesting thing about them, however, is their overt embrace of gospel. While not “Christian rock” per se, the Whole Sick Crew wouldn’t seem out of place playing a tent revival, and tracks like “Saving Grace,” “I Walked Away,” and “Dawning of Your Years” have an old-time, foot-tapping, tambourine-shaking joyfulness that disarms a listener’s cynicism.
So, who knew? If you want to hear some gospel folk-rock inspired by Thomas Pynchon, you could do worse than the Whole Sick Crew. (Granted, there’s not a lot of other options…) And considering it’s a free download, it’s well worth a spin.
Additional Information
Track Listing
1. Saving Grace
2. Lay Me Down
3. I Walked Away
4. Change Your Mind
5. I Remember Her Best
6. Crack a Smile
7. Dawning of Your Years
8. Human Heart
9. You Are Not Listening
10. Lonely America
11. Good Lands
2. Lay Me Down
3. I Walked Away
4. Change Your Mind
5. I Remember Her Best
6. Crack a Smile
7. Dawning of Your Years
8. Human Heart
9. You Are Not Listening
10. Lonely America
11. Good Lands
Bandcamp: The Whole Sick Crew — You can download Crack a Smile for free at Bandcamp.
Pynchon on Record
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Author: Allen B. Ruch
Last Modified: 13 November 2021
Main Pynchon Page: Spermatikos Logos
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com
Last Modified: 13 November 2021
Main Pynchon Page: Spermatikos Logos
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com