Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto first came to my attention a decade plus ago as Mars Arizona, a folk music duo. The pair morphed into New American Farmers, a Northern California Americana/roots band. From there they became New Earth Farmers, leaving most of the twang and acoustic arrangements behind. The first NEF album featured a cover with an astronaut leaving the solar system, appropriate symbology for a record cut during the pandemic. Their new project, The Sky From the Underground, completes that journey with a view of the heavens from another planet. Similarly, the music reflects a new optimism borne out of the chaos in today’s society.
The majority of the tracks fall somewhere on the roots/indie rock spectrum. War Inside Our Hearts is a driving examination of the idea that fear is generated from what’s “not like us”. It was inspired by The Clash and is one of several songs with a British music influence. Big Questions is a bit of a 90’s indie rock number, no doubt owing some of its sound to drummer Nigel Twist (The Alarm). Same goes for the title track. Windfall is a grungier cut, with dirty guitar leads mirroring a metaphor for climate change where “there’s a big storm coming, you could see it for miles.”
There are a few songs that still draw from the band’s origin story in an imaginary small Southwestern town. He Broke Your Heart is an acoustic ballad with a true-that comment, “I quit watching my TV cause it kept lying to me.” In the Sunlight is another ballad, with its roots in a lovely Golden Gate Park afternoon with Knowles and his dad listening, and connecting with each other, during Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. The band drags their fringe out of the closet for an oh-so-country version of George Harrison’s Behind That Locked Door.
Too often when a band metamorphoses from one genre to another it comes along with a change of many of the personnel. That’s not necessarily a bad thing–new styles may demand a new perspective. But some of what made the group in the first place can get lost. In the case of New Earth Farmers, the trajectory has been much more organic, with new members coming on board due to kismet more than search. That’s left them comfortable with old and new, and you can hear that familiarity across the spectrum of sound on The Sky From the Underground.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.