Kacy & Clayton and Marlon Williams

Plastic Bouquet

New West Records

A chance Spotify encounter with the music of Kacy & Clayton led Marlon Williams on an adventure that ended up in sub-zero Saskatoon in Canada and Nashville, TN to record this wonderful collaborative album. 

There’s a clear simpatico between the three of them, with Kacy and Marlon’s vocals blending seamlessly as Clayton colours the songs with homespun and quirky guitar textures. A old-timey aesthetic pervades the songs yet there’s an international flavour to the music that gives it a timeless and geographically untethered sound. From 70s British folk-rock to dusty-trails country, 50’s rock ’n’ roll to subtle pacific folk styles, there’s a fascinating and wholly successful mix of flavours going on.

Vocally, Kacy and Marlon share a real ease and sense of timing that allows them to duet in the traditional sense, trading lines and using call and response techniques, while also dovetailing melodies and counter-phrasing through the songs. ‘Arahura’ is the most ‘Marlon’ of moments on the album – dripping with Antipodean noir as he sings from the perspective of a New Zealand river of the same name. ‘Isn’t It’ showcases the playfulness and inventiveness of the trio within a standard song structure while the title track is a country waltz that touchingly addresses the aftermath of a roadside death. 

Chris Familton