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The history of country music has always been written by its outsiders - the misfits, the outlaws and the renegades - and in recent years Gar Hole Records have made a name for themselves with a roster of artists who swim furiously against the country and folk mainstreams with their perfectly imperfect and lovingly written UnAmericana, including Jude Brothers, Dylan Earl, Desiree Cannon, Nick Shoulders, Bonnie Montgomery, Austin Cash and The Lostines.
The second single from Creekbed Carter’s self-titled album, due out on the label on 22nd March, is inspired by the story of St Margaret of Antioch, a 9th century teenage noble who refuses to get married, is disowned by her noble father, and is then swallowed whole by Satan in the form of a dragon.
With its lively finger-picked guitar and vivid imagery that combines medieval Catholic folk tales with modern-day Texas realities, ‘Apiary’ declares its thesis boldly: we must be the source of our own salvation.
“I am an apiary / Honey hive of hatred in my throat,” Hogan sings, their gender-ambiguous vocals bobbing and weaving between their furious fingerpicking as orchestral swells that would have befitted the warm melancholy of Robert Kirby’s string arrangements on Five Leaves Left swim beneath them. “I am a dirty river and nothin’ in me ever seems to float.”
Disjointed and beautifully weird, like the other songs on the follow up to Good St Riddance, ‘Apiary’ is rooted in the eccentric preoccupations of a messy Catholic childhood that have been transformed into a mesmerizing set of anti-country-folk songs that bring to mind the otherworldliness and melancholic poeticism of Karen Dalton’s In My Own Time from a voice that balances the sweetness of Sibylle Baier with the quirky twang of Jessica Pratt.
Illustrated and animated by Jammy Violet, who also did the incredible album art for Creekbed Carter Hogan, the video for ‘Apiary’ depicts the story of St Margaret of Antioch in a style reminiscent of a thought bubble that might have appeared over Bagpuss' head after Emily had left an intriguing object for him in Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's children's TV show from the 1970s.
The video for ‘Apiary’ is premiering exclusively on Holler below.
Creekbed Carter’s self-titled album is due out on the Gar Hole records on 22nd March.
