Baltimore's Great American Canyon Band is an indie-folk duo whose members, Paul and Krystal Jean Masson, are partners in both life and sound. Since 2011, when they first began creating music together, the transient troubadours have roamed around the country, living in a Holiday Inn in Athens, Georgia, Paul's grandmother's old house in Chicago, and West Hollywood. As Paul and Krystal moved through the broad expanse of the United States, the country began to seep into their world-weary, wide open, acoustic, cinematic songs, with artists like Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons and the 1970s' Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters, including Neil Young, revealing themselves as inspirations.
The duo has returned to Baltimore and recently released the EP Crash, a five-song collection blending dream-pop, acoustic Americana and psychedelia. (A full-length debut album, Only You Remain, is forthcoming shortly.) That is the vibe that comes to the fore on the title track, "Crash," which showcases a floating kind of folk-pop, drifting on gentle harmonies, lots of open space, simple seductive chords and celestial guitar fills.
In the song's black and white video, Paul and Krystal are shown in a close up, singing longingly to each other, fingers entwined, lips close together. The introductory, down-tempo drumbeat brings to mind "Reel Around The Fountain" by The Smiths, and the slow-core pleading drone of the song builds to a point that gives way to catharsis. They're a couple lost in each other's love, searching, only to find solace.
Only You Remain is out on April 8 on Six Degrees.
Copyright 2016 XPN
