Jeremiah – The Leaving

The Courier Mail described Jeremiah as “exploring the roots-rock tradition which passes on through Steve Earle and Australian songwriters such as Mick Thomas and Shane Howard.” Their music is comfortably familiar yet completely fresh, combining a respect for the past with a desire to say something new. Their sound is stripped back and intimate, making use of fiddle, accordion, mandolin and threadbare acoustic guitar – a kind of back verandah folk/country/roots music.
This debut CD ‘The Leaving’ features 11 tracks, all but two recorded live in the studio. Dan and Cathy were joined by Mark Cryle on mandolin and bass (Spot the Dog) and Aaron Millard on drums (Doubting Thomas).

“Cathy Bell is a fine singer and fiddle/mandolin/accordion player. She was a founding member of Spot the Dog. Daniel Grant writes ‘Americana’ songs, an evolving ‘urban roots’ music that combines a familiar country sound with an urban slant. His voice is strong and earthy (honed by his rock music background) and he underlines his stories of modern city life with minimalist acoustic guitar. Together Cathy and Dan are Jeremiah. Their CD is The Leaving, eleven of Dan’s original tracks whose lyrics are sensitive, intimate, poetic and absorbing. The Leaving is fresh, addictive music, excellently recorded – it’s hard to believe it was a living room production. Jeremiah has successfully invested a very traditional story-telling country style with a new and exciting flavour and Cathy’s ethereal, sliding fiddle and sensitive harmonies enhance Dan’s profound and powerful lyrics (just listen to her swinging in My Favourite Band or Where You Are or This One. Go Cathy!) I enjoyed everything about this CD. The cover is excellent (I know, it doesn’t affect the music, but it definitely decides if you choose to pick it off the shelf). The lyrics are included, which are almost unnecessary, the presentation is so clear, and they are ingeniously presented to take up the least space and fit superbly with the design. All the songs have something to say and all will strike familiar, evocative chords in the minds and hearts of listeners. For they are songs from the heart: about the trials and hopes, the dreams and successes of everyday life. From the opening Better Than Nothing, about the need to compromise until dreams come true, through the driving beat of The Leaving and the troubled Jesus Don’t Love Me, the heartfelt My Favourite Band, a song of unforeseen loss, the pounding rock’n’roll rhythm of the joyous This One, the gentle ‘waltz country’ Square Pegs, with a powerful message of hope, to the final Anywhere But Here, Anyone But Me, The Leaving is a CD that demands and deserves not just one but many hearings. With Fingers Crossed, Jeremiah can well write their dreams up in the sky. They deserve to go far. Jeremiah was a biblical prophet of apocalyptic doom. It seems a strange title for a duo that is bringing a very different message – one of a powerful new and exciting music. Perhaps in this sense its emergence is apocalyptic, as in ‘a revelation’.” Review by Anne Infante.