Wino,Conny Ochs - Freedom Conspiracy 2015 ak6103 torrent

Though it’s difficult to put into words exactly why, this was one of my most anticipated releases of 2015. As a long time admirer of Scott “Wino” Weinrich’s musical career (The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan, etc.), I’ve really taken to his acoustic folk projects over the past few years. Be it his acoustic solo material, his work on The Songs of Townes Van Zandt cover album or his collaboration with German folk artist Conny Ochs, Wino’s voice seems tailor-made for bare bones, stripped-down American folk rock. His first album with Mr. Ochs was a successful fusion of acoustic folk, 60s counter-culture rock and doom, and at the time I described it as best I could as “biker folk.”
Freedom Conspiracy is their second album together and that tag still fits as good as any. It’s more of the same sparse, emotional folk rock and demotivational road songs for soulsick drifters. It’s not far from the Rick Rubin produced Johnny Cash albums in that it’s all about simple acoustic arrangements, emotive vocals and old-fashioned storytelling, and like last time, the songs are all the more powerful for it. This however is a much darker album, digging deeper into personal demons and at times, becoming uncomfortably honest and painfully self-reflective. These songs represent pages from the writer’s lives and you can feel they really mean something to them, and that makes all the difference.

There are some real gems here, like opener “Drain” where Wino’s distinctive voice weaves a tale of living on the edge, trying to hold on. His delivery takes a simple tune and makes it cut deep with poignant pathos and there’s such a genuine vibe to it, you have to take it seriously when he sings lines like “hold on blue sky, it’s over when your dreams die” in a care-worn rasp. “Dirt Floor” has a more southern blues feel and would almost fit on a 60s Credence Clearwater Revival album. The chorus sizzles with old timey gospel charm and it’ll stay with you.
By Steel Druhm


1. Drain
2. Sound Of Blue
3. Foundation Chaos
4. Crystal Madonna
5. Shards
6. Time Out Black Out
7. Timeless Spirit
8. Freedom Conspiracy
9. Dirt Floor
10. Heavy Heart
11. Forever Gone5. Shards
12. Invisible Bullets
13. The Great Destroyer