Perpetual Musket
Leave it to Elijah Minnelli and the Breadminster County Council Music Initiative to deliver a genuinely disarming new dubscapade into the traditional folk canon, "reimagining classic standards with a cast of renowned reggae vocalists" and fusing the "[melodies] of yesteryear" with high-spirited mixing board wizardry. Ever since his 2021-released single "SLATS", the native resident of Breadminster has made a splash on the global roots circuit with his stand-out, spunky dub outings. This latest innovative drop of the breadbreaking UK DJ and producer is another one strictly for the people – a shimmering, slightly wonky offering and reverberating call to lay down arms.
"Perpetual Musket" is an eight-track (four tracks + four dubs) tale of repeated human foolhardiness and war-mongering. Pacifist to the core, Elijah Minnelli reminds listeners of the futility of armed conflict and the importance of celebrating life's most basic joys. It tells the ancient story of the Partnership of the Perpetual Musket, an underground bohemian society led by a heroic "figurehead" set on bringing about a state of warlessness through song and ceremony. This "living effigy" was "a symbol of everything that they stood for and against; a warrior whose armour was made not of steel, but of bread," which "sought to present the notion that a fed society is better than a dead society."
The album cover depicts said icon covered in slabs of toast, wielding a baguette and backed by what appear to be the four guest MCs featuring on this record, robed in purple, each carrying a duck. The image pays tribute to an age-old legend: Seeking to get its message of peace across, the aforementioned Partnership of the Perpetual Musket designed "ever-more radical acts of domestic protest. Most notable was the 'Avian Purge of 1915, where ducks were set upon their bread-laden figure, signifying the destruction caused by the horrors of aerial bombing. Although the conceptual nature of the act was lost on the townsfolk, the spectacle of ducks pecking at the defenceless breadman remains ever-popular to this day."
In the case of Minnelli's "Perpetual Musket" however, the message is loud and clear as each track disseminates a wisdom entirely its own: On "Vine & Fig Tree", veteran Jamaican singer-songwriter Little Roy lends his vocal chords to an "explicitly anti-war song originating from the Old Testament." On "Soulcake", contemporary dancehall titan Shumba Youth brings the energy to the "traditional ballad 'A' Soulin'," detailing the "winter ritual where the poor would knock on the doors of farm owners and the rich," believed to be a predecessor to both carolling and trick or treating. On "Lifeboat Mona", roots reggae heavyweight Earl 16 gifts us his rendition of Peggy Seeger's original recap of a lifeboat disaster in 1959 and the ongoing vilification of "the most vulnerable in society." And finally, Bristol's Joe Yorke contributes his "haunting falsetto" to "Wind & The Rain", a "tale of weather and weariness from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night."
Each track is paired with an equally impressive live dub version, further showcasing Elijah Minnelli's craftiness on the controls and productive wit. Minnelli's daily bread interweaves a breadth of musical styles with plenty of bounce to the ounce to forge a highly recognisable signature sound and feed the hungry masses. Let's make a toast, shall we?
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