Perhaps Transparent Records

On their third full length release, Pothole Skinny holds nothing back by means of folk exploration. From slow moving waltz ballads and eastern dream ragas, to full-on electric blues pysch-boogie... The group manages to wrangle their musical ideas and AM influence into a collection of songs encompassing the "Secrets of the Palisades" - folk myths and legends left behind by history for exploration. This release also finds new guests entering into the fold including fellow New Jerseyan and psych song mistress Marianne Nowottny belting haunting vocals on the homemade tambura based track "Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs". All tracks Recorded/Mixed 2005-2006 at Connemerra Winds, Jersey City NJ by Stephen Connolly. Except Track 6 recorded by Andy Sloan with additional recording at Connemerra Winds. Other recent projects by Pothole Skinny members include contributions to recent releases by Tower Recordings, Two Dollar Guitar, PG Six, Marianne Nowottny, Emerald Tablets, and Ziggurat.

Track Listing:
1. Bow Down (5:05)
2. The Séance of Old Bergen (5:14)
3. A Rose for Agnes (6:11)
4. Atlantic Winds (5:10)
5. Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs (12:08)
6. Moon Sickle Blues (2:58)
7. Roivas (4:40)
8. Awakened Tribes Will Rise (7:45)
9. Will the Circle Be Unbroken (2:57)

Special Guests:
Marianne Nowottny - Vocals: "Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs"
Megan Freeman - Vocals: "Moon Sickle Blues"
Tasha Rifkin - Flute: "Awakened Tribes Will Rise"

Videos:
Pothole Skinny "Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs" (Live Excerpt w/Marianne Nowottny):

Reviews:
Terrascope online (by Jeff Penczak):
The third album from this Jersey City (New Jersey) folk rock quartet opens with the haunting stalker, Bow Down, an ominously creepy crawl across the frozen tundras of your mind that s eerily reminiscent of our favourite Minneapolis psychedelic wyrdfolkers, Salamander and Skye Klad. Tablas, sitar-like acoustic guitars and buzzing drones trickle through the appropriately spine tingling The Séance of Old Bergen, as the band, like all great folk artists, once again incorporates local legends into their work, Old Bergen being the original name for Jersey City when it was first settled over 375 years ago indeed, the 325-year old, Old Bergen Church is the longest continuous congregation in New Jersey. [Anyone interested in further research should consult Daniel Van Winkle s incredibly thorough Old Bergen: History and Reminiscences, published over a century ago and available online. JP] Culminating in a whirling maelstrom of ghostly sonics and...bagpipes(!?), the song is simultaneously relaxing and unsettling, as a good séance should be! A Rose for Agnes soft-shoe shuffles into the room, pirouettes to cascading and Hawaiian-styled guitars and abruptly and gracefully makes way for the smooth instrumental, Atlantic Winds to float dreamily across the horizon, with a weeping slide guitar adding to its misty-eyed aura. Fellow Jersey artist, Marianne Nowottny, poster child for all things wyrd and wylde, fits right into that Old Bergen séance by channeling ghostly apparitions and contributing spoken-word moans throughout the epic frightfest, Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs, which will confound the more straight-laced folkies like myself, but will probably make the short list of must-hear avant, free-folk performance pieces cherished by fans of lovable Finnish loony, Jan Anderzén, master of ceremonies of Avarus, Kemialliset Ystävät, et. al. However, 11+ minutes of this is a bit more than my head can bear, but I can certainly see fans of Spires That In The Sunset Rise, Fursaxa, and the more experimental outings of Charalambides digging the hell out of this. Roivas suggests more than a few Neil Young & Crazy Horse albums have visited the Skinny boys stereos, and the banjo adds a nice, backwoods, loner/stoner vibe to the proceedings. Elsewhere, Tasha Rifkin s flute solos on Awaken Tribes Will Rise is at once soothing, nostalgic and heartbreaking, a fitting elegy to the titular band of outsiders. I only wish the band hadn t elected to recite the lyrics out of the ass end of a rubber hose, thus defeating any sympathy one might have for the sleeping tribesmen, but white-hot guitar solos and tribal percussive pounding are almost enough to forgive their vocal indiscretion. The band acknowledge the century anniversary of Will the Circle Be Unbroken with a wind chime and slide guitar rendition that features a faint air of Amazing Grace peeking in and wraps this wonderful album up on a cheerful vibe of love and togetherness.