Chicago’s Immune label presents a split between two rootsy Maine projects. Micah Blue Smaldone is a Portland guitarist and songwriter working with a couple collaborators, notably a knotty old piano. “The Mule” sits somewhere between a country shuffle, blues, and Fleetwood Mac, a stomping repetitive groove driving tender, warning vocals and tight backing tracks. “Tell It To The Sun” is another slow, expansive acoustic narrative, breezing along with unhurried instrumental interludes.
Big Blood is the work of Portland’s Caleb Mulkerin and Colleen Kinsella, who make music “while their daughter is sleeping.” As such, it’s more intimate, looser, with lush vocal harmonies and shimmering tape-effected guitar layers. “The Queen Her Court” is an epic, soaring ballad turning on the refrain, “No one sees the crime / but my true love and I.” “Sister” pairs Neil Young vocal flavor with Magnetic Fields instrumentation with gorgeous falsetto harmonies, eventually breaking down into a surprisingly emotional electronic miasma. “Kentucky Babe” floats away like a dream. A solid offering, this, continuing Immune’s eclectic string of successes.
