Mr Plow return after a 12-year hiatus.  And, with new album At One With Nature, Leicestershire’s self-styled ‘Lo-fi Gothic Americana’ practitioners pick up precisely where they left off.

PICKING UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF

It’s been an eternity since we last heard from Mr Plow – Leicestershire’s self-styled ‘Lo-fi Gothic Americana’ practitioners.  Well, it’s been 12 years – and that’s a long time in this business.  It was 2014 when Lincoln W Plow and his able sidekicks Alex Scoppie and Mark Haynes released their last album, the acclaimed Not the Beginning, Not the End.  Now, the boys are back and, by golly, doesn’t the world need them right now.

Essentially, with their new album, At One With Nature, Mr Plow pick up right where they left off back in 2014.  At One With Nature is a collection of songs that express despair and malevolent misfortune – but don’t get the wrong idea because, when Mr Plow vent their expressions of misery and frustration, they do so with a sense of humour that is as welcome and refreshing as it is unexpected.

The pattern for the album is established right from the first twangs of Lincoln’s grungy guitar in opening track the Great Dismal Swamp.  Lincoln’s doomy, despairing vocals sit low in the mix, Alex’s bass rumbles, Mark’s drums patter in a ‘who cares’ kind of way and industrial sounds reverberate.  This is the authentic sound of blue-collar America, brought to you via the River Soar.

IT’S POWERFUL. IT BITES

There’s more than hint of Neil Young in the tune to the excellent A Bigger, Better Jesus and there’s the cynicism of Warren Zevon in Lincoln’s lyrics as he swipes out at the brand of commercially-savvy evangelism that has become the calling card of the far right.  “Our Jesus hates the gays and refugees,” sings Lincoln, before concluding: “We’re not asking for forgiveness anymore.”  It’s powerful, and it bites.

Slow-paced doom and gloom meet acidic wit head-on with Every Loser Loses Again.  Mark plays a shuffling drumbeat and Lincoln chips in with a wonderfully mournful guitar solo on a number that could be mistaken for a misplaced Lucinda Williams song.

The band take a break from hawking the misery around for the instrumental Surf Nazis Must Die.  The tune has an authentic late 50s Juke Joint feel, with twangy guitar backed a tight bass/drums accompaniment that wouldn’t have been out of place on an early Shadows album.

A HEADY MIX

And, sticking with making comparisons, there’s a flavour of The Velvet Underground in both the guitar sound and in Lincoln’s monotone vocals to Find Joy.  The song is low-key, with Lincoln’s voice almost buried in the mix.  But, take the trouble to hear and understand what he’s saying – you’ll find inspiration in his message which is, basically: ‘find joy in the everyday aspects of your life.’

If your preference is for the vinyl version of At One With Nature, Side One is concluded by Nineteen Twenty – a slow, melodic ballad with darkly hilarious lyrics that contemplate the lasting effects of the pandemic.  And, if a line like: “If the virus don’t kill you, I’m gonna kill you – I will” doesn’t provide the impetus to get up and turn the record over, I suspect that nothing will.

I’m reminded of debut album-era Black Sabbath by the riff that opens Mud Mountain, but that’s only a part of the story.  Guest Kevin Henwick’s ‘guitar freakout’ has more than a hint of Frank Zappa about it, whilst Lincoln’s deadpan vocals channel the influence of Leonard Cohen.  That’s a heady mix indeed, and it works nicely, with Mark and Alex once again providing the solid foundation that makes it all possible.

GOTHIC AMERICANA – DEFINED

A punchy guitar lick provides the theme for We Are Not Your Friends, another album highlight.  Lincoln takes another merciless swipe, although his target isn’t altogether clear.  Is it Trump?  Farage?  Politicians in general?  Or is it something/someone closer to home?  They all fit the bill.  Whoever he’s aiming at, Lincoln’s expressionless vocals get the venom across splendidly – and his guitar solo is delightfully off-kilter.

The tune to The Happiest Person Alive is disarmingly charming – almost pastoral.  So, the song’s opening couplet: “She broke both his arms.  She beat him and left him to die,” comes as quite a shock.  This is satire at its darkest, and Lincoln sings his lyrics with warm sentimentality.

If any listeners are, by this stage, still unsure of what ‘Gothic Americana’ is, then then their curiosity will surely be sated by the sinister Village of the Damned.  The tune is, despite the bright, twangy guitar, thoroughly ominous and Lincoln’s vocal is – let’s not mince words – creepy.

LAST LAUGH

The spirit of Neil Young rears its head on several occasions during At One With Nature and it does so particularly with 300lbs, a song with distinct echoes of Cortez the Killer.  Lincoln projects his voice through a barrier of distorted guitar to tell his story of an Arkansas hunting trip that went very wrong.  At least for the hunters, it did…

And, to close, Lincoln turns his hand to sentimental balladry – and he makes a decent fist of it, in a Lou Reed/’Goodnight Ladies’ kind of way.  The backing is pared back to a jazzy guitar lick and a light-touch drumbeat and listener is left to ponder: Are Lincoln and the boys having one last laugh at our expense?  I rather suspect that they are and, somehow, I feel rather good about that.

Not on the album, but get a feel for Mr Plow by listening to Satan Wandered In, a track from the band’s 2014 album, Not the Beginning, Not the End – below:

Mr Plow: Bandcamp

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