With Down and Out, the latest offering from Norway’s Greenland Whalefishers, GWF maintain the “KISS”, Keep It Simple Stupid, philosophy and while there’s nothing earth-shattering with what they do, there doesn’t have to be as they do quite well with what they have.

The band, made up of Arvid Grov, vocals, occasional guitar and songwriter, Gunnar “Two Sheds” Grov, mandolin, banjo and bouzouki, Trond Olsen, guitar, Terje Schumann Olsen, bass, Agnes Skollevoll, tin-whistle, Odin Døssland and Kristian Malmo, fiddle and Ørjan Eikeland Risan on drums have a good one here and are definately far from “Down & Out”.

All the offerings on this release are very nicely done, melodic and well balanced. The signature of this band are the vocals of Arvid Grov. His raspy vocals are a perfect front to the tracks and are a recognizable trademark of the band. Agnes Skollevoll’s whistle is a great accompanyment as well and added in the right doses. The rest of the outfit rounds out the sound very nicely.

There are some great songs on this CD. Highlight tracks are “Hit The Ground”, “The Rocky Roads Of London”,”Punk Shanty” and my personal favorite, “Brody”. There’s also a nice instrumental in “City of Angels”.

If you’re a fan of the Whalefishers or are looking something to start your GWF collection, this is a good one to get. You’ll be rewarded with almost 40 minutes of good times!

2006

Review by The Blackstuff