Golden Alphabet: Removable Baby Jesus

Roots band Golden Alphabet has managed to record a rustic psych folk album in the midst of Brooklyn. On Removable Baby Jesus the band's resident lyricist Tommy Cormier taps into his issues with religion, being raised in Tucson, AZ, a place where lots of people think that spelling God with a capital letter should be replaced by an all-caps version. On the upside - he was exposed to highly melodic country music and that is firmly embedded in his musical DNA. Over the years Golden Alphabet went through tons op lineups, but the current quintet has been played together since 2014. And since they are all multi-instrumentalists they can play musical chairs, donning different roles if a song calls for a slightly different approach.

Removable Baby Jesus is a happy-sad album, with witty tongue-in-cheek songs like Bucky Bronco and Wiggly Tornado (it must a first to write a song from the perspective from the storm itself), sitting next to barely contained anger of being dragged to mass in Become Bright or getting really, really stoned in Sundays I Gave. It is quite fitting that they wrap things with a song about being tongue-tied in a one-on-one with Jesus himself in Nose To Nose and Toes To Toes. If anything religion spawned a great set of songs. Zealous preachers and bigots will beg to differ, but after all is said and done, it turns out that music will always be the higher (and real) power in the end.

Golden Alphabet:
Tommy Cormier: vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion, banjo, mandolin
Kendra Kovarik: bass, vocals, percussion
Nate Jasensky: guitars, piano, keyboards, vocals, percussion
Tim Minker: drums, percussion, vocals
Derek Smith: guitars, keyboards, banjo, mandolin, 12 string guitar