When you make American-oriented music as a group from The Hague, as a singer you can do two things: you try to sing in English as neatly as possible, or you can measure yourself with a bold American accent. Singer / guitarist Melle de Boer of the Hague quartet Smutfish has such an American blow that even an American will wonder from which Texan farming hamlet he comes. After an outing as John Dear
… Mowing Club in 2008, De Boer revived the name Smutfish in 2015, the band name with which he had previously managed to put himself in the spotlight with two albums full of subdued americana and country-noir. That sound of yesteryear returns on Trouble as if there is hardly an intermediate gap. De Boer gnaws his lyrics against a backdrop of ghostly country and pedal steel guitars. Nice are the additions of copper and the second voice of bass player Janneke Nijhuis. Partly due to the no-nonsense production of Frans Hagenaars, the dark songs remain pointed. (MR)more
