The Great American Desert is Max Holmquist (formerly South of Lincoln, which we really liked) from Nebraska. The change of name coincides with a new album, Carson City, soon to be released on Yer Bird Records. Recorded in a living room, the record sees the pace slowed slightly from previous efforts with minimal guitars and clear vocals.
As is the case with this type of music, good writing is the key behind the success. A lot of music focuses on the sharp and immediate aspects of love, the moment you fall in or out of it, leading to the use of many tired clichés and making the whole thing seem somehow forced or false. Holmquist addresses many different times and situations across a relationship and manages to keep things feeling honest and realistic. For example in the title track ‘Carson City’, rather than delving into the stereotypical ‘I can’t live without him/her etc. etc.’ he writes from the point of view of a couple that are obviously not in the immediate and fantastical ideal of true love. They have real problems of children and money. They are just trying to get by with as little pain as possible, trying to find some sort of fulfillment. Throught the album this is one of the things that hit me the most – the lack of the overblown and the trite. There are no grandiloquent accounts of fairytale affairs, this is based in the real world. That isn’t to say that Holmquist’s characters lack warmth or emotion, they are steeped in it. Instead they appear more rounded, more real. They are lonely. They miss their wife and kids. They struggle with addictions and demons and pine for the past with intense regret.
I have been reading lots of Raymond Carver’s short stories recently and listening to Carson City I drew a lot of comparisons. Both contain people just trying to get by but invariably finding themselves fucked up. Both have that sense of melancholic nostalgia for small towns and the people that inhabit them; people away from the superficial trappings of technology and modern life. This video, from HearNebraska, is a good watch to further your understanding of what Holmquist is trying to achieve. I come back to it again but I feel it perfectly sums up the sound: this is honest music. Unlike some folk and americana bands around now (not naming any names), you get the impression that his family and friends are living in the world he is singing about.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/46148966″]
In my opinion Holmquist is achieving big things, and, perhaps just as importantly, he is doing it the right way.
Carson City is set to be released on June 26th and is available for pre-order here.