Dana Immanuel And The Stolen Band

I hear banjo and fiddle and stomp box and I admit that my mind automatically goes to Bluegrass but not the kind of Bluegrass that deals with addiction or the end of the world.

Dana Immanuel is an Oxford educated Classics scholar and international poker journalist as well as a hell of a banjo player.
The Stolen Band are all female and all very able musicians – Feadora Morris plays guitar, Hjordis Moon Badford plays Cahon (she was once a cage dancer at Heaven!), Basia Bartz lays down fiddle and violin and Karen Grymm Regester lays down the bottom with picked and bowed double bass.
All of the band have a history in the folk and avant garde and behind Dana’s insane vocals and banjo playing they fit in perfectly.

Dana says of the title track “ ‘Mama’s Codeine’ is a bit personal, but rest assured it’s not actually about either my mother or codeine. I feel as though the chorus remains pretty relatable though, even without a back story” So that is pretty clear!

What this mini-lp is is superb playing around songs that sit on the ragged edge of normality and coupled with Dana Immanuel’s exquisitely twisted vocals.

Anything other than ‘the usual’ and a delightful listen, this is one that gets better with repeated listening.