Beauty in the Dirt

Cory Seznec takes the formula he developed with folk trio Groanbox – Americana with global twists – and sets out alone with his debut solo album Beauty in the Dirt. The Franco-American singer-songwriter and guitarist is partly based in Addis Ababa, but the African sounds that filter into the blues and country mould of this character-filled set of songs and instrumentals are West African rather than Ethiopian. The title-track has Afrobeat-style high guitar figures and bubbling bass riffs, with earthy ngoni interjections played by Seznec (whose banjo picking is equally pert), which somehow seamlessly weave with the southern blues of the song's main melody. The instrumentals that provide the album's framework are a laidback melange of Malian-style blues and rustling percussion. It's a subtle and fresh type of fusion and one that is further boosted by Seznac's voice, a dextrous, resonant drawl that brings out the colour of his songs. The New Orleans flavour of the purely country and blues tracks, such as the speed-banjo folk-pop of ‘East Virginia’ or the raunchy, electric ‘Build Me a Weapon’, hold as much appeal as Seznec's more experimental musical concoctions. This is more than the sum of its parts.