With My Left Hand I Raise The Dead

First you will hear his voice -- maybe you’ll hate it -- but then, eventually, it will begin to transform how you think voices are supposed to sound. A frog in the throat, a kink in the heart, and a rasp that doesn’t go away. Then you will be overwhelmed by the music -- an ebbing then swelling, oceanic thing, it comes thEn goes; tickles your ears then pokes you in the ribs; has unstoppable momentum when it is not finding new ways to climax, or standing absolutely stock still.

Doveman is Thomas Bartlett and a select group of collaborators. On his sophomore album, With My Left Hand I Raise the Dead, the band includes banjo player Sam Amidon, a folk singer and old childhood friend; drummer Dougie Bowne (IGGY POP, THE LOUNGE LIZARDS, CASSANDRA WILSON) guitarist and conjurer Shahzad Ismaily (MARC RIBOT) and trumpeter Peter Ecklund. At times there are various others. Doveman does not rehearse, but they sure can play. Together Doveman make lovely, interesting, heart-rending sounds, like a broken wing flapping and starting to take flight.