Execute American Folklore

To try to categorize Johnny Dowd—Ithaca, New York’s legendary, idiosyncratic genius—is like trying to hold back a hurricane with a windbreak. It’s just not possible or indeed beneficial. To do so would be foolhardy, to say the least. Yet, far from trying to alienate an audience, or indeed create his own chinstroking niche, for his tenth album, Execute American Folklore, Dowd has arguably delivered his most accessible yet.

From the opening bars of ‘Unease And Deviance’ to the final, sing-along joviality of ‘A World Without Me’ (a duet with the fabulous Anna Coogan who floats through the album with unrestrained glee), it’s clear that Johnny has had a great deal of fun making this record. Held together with pulsating rhythms and drive— beatbox and synths pumping out mercurial beats whilst Dowd’s unmistakable tones pierce the songs like a maniacal cheerleader for the masses—Dowd charts a territory bordered by futuristic funk on one side and exploratory electronica on the other. Dowd’s aural playground is a place for everyone to gorge themselves on the fine fruits of a master aural manipulator at play.

Execute American Folklore not only pushes the envelope one step further for a musician who tore up the rule book years ago, it reaffirms Dowd’s place as one of America’s creative ambassadors of invention, mirth, and sonic wonderment. Hell, this is even a Dowd record you can dance to!