
The Crowkeepers were on my radar because of guitarist Bill Simms from Shoot the Pier - a two-person moody surf group he did with his daughter. The Crowkeepers keep a similarly somber tone to them that seems to loom even over the more upbeat tracks. It never really roars, much more likely to creep. They really lean into that sound on the album title track "Witches on the Rock", and I think it works well. As a live band and not a bedroom project, this isn't quite as dressed up with recording effects as Shoot the Pier's Surf Dance and so it loses some of the acoustic atmospherics, but if you like that sort of mood that Shoot the Pier hung out it, I think you'll enjoy this.