From Iceland — James Apollo - Good Grief

Published October 2, 2005

When members of Kimono imported this Minnesota band to Iceland last spring, we thought they were a little cracked. James Apollo play a mix of Texas waltz and a two-step folk that, on first listen, feels thirty years old. The golden voiced, fresh-faced singer gave us particular difficulty when we reviewed their show, as he crooned heart-breakers with a bravado that suggested the broken heart was never his. What we’ve found is that if you play the CD once, you will repeat it. Good Grief has legs, and James Apollo’s perfect tone on lines like “Dead men weigh more than broken hearts” give a timeless quality to the music. Many of the tracks sound more and more like a favourite jukebox tune in a dive bar.