Pickin’ and singin’ and playing with verve and virtuosity – that’s the Squid City Slingers on their new Octave Records album, All That We Carried. The group mixes bluegrass, country, folk, Americana and other influences in an album of nine sparkling originals, recorded in stunning Pure DSD high-resolution sound.
The Squid City Slingers include Riki Olson on bass, mandolin, and lead and backup vocals; Sydney “Squid” Wojszynski singing and playing fiddle, and Chris Cuella on guitar and banjo. Calling them a bluegrass band would be oversimplifying it: the band moves between traditional up-tempo stylings to ballads, an instrumental, and original, though traditional-sounding country songs, with soaring harmonies.
Octave Records’ Pure DSD recording process captures the natural, airy sound of the acoustic instruments in all its realism and complexity, from the power and body of the acoustic guitar and upright bass to the pluck of the banjo and the distinctive high-register sound of the mandolin. The vocals are clear and warm, with a presence that makes the listener feel like they’re right in the studio with the performers. The spare instrumentation gives the album an open, inviting vibe.
All That We Carried was recorded and mixed in Pure DSD by Callum Bair at Octave Records using Octave’s Pyramix system, Manley Labs Force microphone preamps, and PS Audio Aspen FR30 loudspeakers for monitoring. The instruments were captured using Microtech Gefell M 930 and Royer 121 mics, with Neumann U87 microphones for the vocals. The album was mastered by Gus Skinas.
The Squid City Slingers.
“Down,” a song about traveling through the heartland, kicks off the album in up-tempo bluegrass style, with slapped bass, banjo fingerpicking, energetic fiddle playing, and adept lead and harmony vocals by Riki and Squid. “All I Need Is You” is a heartfelt love song where Riki declares, “Every time I look into her eyes/I’m stuck in a haze/’cause all I need is you.” “Escape the Shipwreck” is an instrumental that features adept interplay between mandolin, fiddle and banjo. “Falling Walls” begins with a startlingly realistic acoustic guitar, before Squid enters with her beautifully pure vocal and fiddle accompaniment. The bowed bass adds a flowing movement to this pensive song.
“Leave It to Me” has a sparse arrangement that lets Squid’s lyrics of love and regret shine through, and features an adept mandolin solo by Riki. “Monsters” is one of the standout songs on the album, with banjo, acoustic guitar, fiddle and bass all playing off each other while Squid sings about the “monsters in my closet” being something not to fear, but to set her free. Other highlights of All That We Carried include “I’ll Never Be” with its bouncing rhythm, the old-time country feel and sublime purity of Squid’s voice in “Trudge Through Snow,” and “Who Thought (That it Could Be True)” has an irresistible Gypsy jazz-meets line dancing energy that makes it the perfect album closer.
All That We Carried features Octave’s premium gold disc formulation, and the disc is playable on any SACD, CD, DVD, or Blu-ray player. It also has a high-resolution DSD layer that is accessible by using any SACD player or a PS Audio SACD transport. In addition, the master DSD and PCM files are available for purchase and download, including DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64, and DSDDirect Mastered 352.8 kHz/24-bit, 176.2 kHz/24-bit, 88.2 kHz/24-bit, and 44.1 kHz/24-bit PCM. (SRP: $29.)
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