Crank Me Up, by Curving Tooth
Below, you will find a small sample of the yet to be released 2023 Curving Tooth album. More to come in the Spring/Summer.
Greg “Lovey” Hatem and Emma Elizabeth Downing are two of Baltimore’s most generous and prolific musicians. In their new collaboration, Curving Tooth, their talents collide and whole new worlds form.
Setting Downing’s trademark banjo and high lonesome holler amidst Hatem’s synthesized landscapes, the duo’s new record Crank Me Up is by turns whimsical and haunting, sublime and carnivalesque. Here, everything on earth is imbued with life essence and omens abound: crows are oracles, bears ride the train, and goblins and heroes alike rise from the fertile decay.
Downing has been a staple of Baltimore’s art music underground since attaining college radio credibiltiy with her band Lambs Eat Ivy in the 1980s. An endlessly restless performer, she continues to record and perform in a variety of collaborations, including Old Songs (with Chris Mason of The Tinklers and Mark Jickling of Half Japanese), In the Womb of the Everywhere Room (with Allison Clendaniel of Mind on Fire), and Mole Suit Choir (with Rupert Wondowloski, shopkeeper at Baltimore’s legendary Normal’s Books and Records.)
Hatem’s resume is equally active, recording and performing his own solo music and with Baltimore bands — drumming with Natural Velvet, playing multiple instruments with Moth Broth, and joining Downing from time to time in Mole Suit Choir.
With Crank Me Up, Curving Tooth serves up a banquet of experimental pop that is both inviting and adventurous, combining flavors for every palate into a concoction that is quite toothsome indeed.
written by Rahne Alexander