Oakley Hall
by Donny Kutzbach
On their fourth full-length, I’ll Follow You (Merge Records), Brooklyn collective Oakley Hall has done it right. Sinewy guitar lines tangle with indelible harmonies highlighted by the vocal trade-offs of Rachel Cox and Patrick Sullivan (formerly of avant-rockers Oneida). Oakley Hall has often been boxed by the hollow trendster/blog-geek label of “freak folk” but the six-piece band deserves better, pushing together no-wave and psych-fuzz textures with traditional folk forms and untethered C&W beauty and emotion. I’ll Follow You is a fantastic collection of songs featuring tight harmonies and buzzing sprawl on “No Dreams,” the gorgeously downbeat “Angela,” the chamber-folk of “First Frost” and the sprawling Crazy Horse-style rocker “Take My Hands, We’re Free.” Oakley Hall plays Mohawk Place next Thursday (Oct. 4) at 9pm. Support comes from Brian Wheat and the Found
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