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“Girlfriends are leaving/new girls arrive/you open the circle/to be blinded by light.”
This lyric from “Heydays,” the opening track to Compass Rose Bouquet, the sophomore offering from Michigan “northern rock” music “collective” Great Lakes Myth Society, perfectly summarizes the thesis being defended throughout – melancholy is meaningless unless it’s tempered by good spirits in the heart and in hand. When guitarist Timothy Monger sings “Uncertain the future/nostalgic the past/unable to recognize/moments that last,” there’s more sun in his voice than rain.
That springtime disposition carries into all aspects, from production to songwriting. The tunes crackle with energy and spark, from the cavernous drums to the silvery trumpets on the psychedelic-via-”Crimson-and-Clover” tune “Raindrops and Roses.” The band isn’t afraid to explore the myriad folk influences available to their collective, either; “Queen of the Barley Fool” and “Debutante” incorporate Irish pub choruses without slipping into affectation. “Debutante” even throws indie-rock distortion into the guitars, giving the up-tempo jig some teeth. They accompany accordion-driven waltz “The Gales of 1838,” which closes the record with a slow, six-minute build that sways like the bow of a wind-blown pirate ship complete with refrains proclaiming that we’ll have “wine, wine, wine, more wine tonight.” This is Americana anyone can get behind.
Great Lakes Myth Society takes the folk-infused sound with which we’ve all become intimately familiar and polish it with a pop sheen, producing earthy, heartfelt waltzes and jigs that manage to be introspective and fun at the same time. Pass the Jameson; who wouldn’t drink to that?
