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Malcolm Holcombe (from the album Tricks of the Trade
10/8/2021
Malcolm Holcombe (from the album Tricks of the Trade available on Need To Know Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)
Malcolm Holcombe offers the impression he’s the real deal, a down-home tattered troubadour who shares his songs with a decidedly jaded perspective. His gruff and gritty vocals are as pungent as aged malt whiskey, not necessarily as intoxicating although they do leave a lingering impression. With his latest album, Tricks of the Trade, he shares the same combination of cynicism and sentiment that’s marked the dozen or so albums that have come before, tempering his delivery with cynicism, sarcasm and a brooding, unyielding attitude.
Not surprisingly then, there’s no hint of sunshine breaking through the clouds of despair. “Misery Loves Company” more or less sets the tone, a hard-luck tale of a ne’er-do-well trying to find some measure of hope and salvation in spite of sadder circumstance that perpetually doom him to despair. “Damn Rainy Day” follows suit, given a sordid scenario that ultimately finds ‘just another old man stuck in the past’.Things really turn tragic with the dire narrative “Your Kin”, a heart-breaking tale of a family, who like so many others, have been torn apart at the southern border. Sad circumstance also impacts “On Tennessee Land”, a diatribe directed at politicians who turn their back on those they were sworn to represent. So too, “Shaky Ground” addresses that disparity, this time in racial terms that illuminate the divide between people of privilege and those that seek their own salvation while stuck in a mire of desperation and despair.
Holcombe conveys these parables by way of rough-hewn arrangements that are overseen by veteran producer and longtime associate Dave Roe, creating a sound that’s etched in the muddy firmament that’s described throughout in vivid detail. It’s not pretty, but it is authentic, and there’s no denying the tumultuous trappings that define these songs. Yet at the same time, it’s those dire designs that make Tricks of the Trade such a vivid encounter, however precarious it appears.
Taken in tandem, it makes for a harrowing proposition, but Malcolm Holcombe’s well equipped to deliver these tales with the craft and conviction they deserve. Tricks of the Trade bows to that ability. (by Lee Zimmerman)
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