The Unfaithful Servants Step Into a New Light

After a six-year hiatus, The Unfaithful Servants has released Fallen Angels, the sophomore album from the Americana band. Their new record is lovingly crafted by a quartet consisting of Jesse Cobb (mandolin), Singer-songwriter Dylan Stone, Quin Etheridge-Pedden (fiddle) and bassist Mark Johnson.

Hailing from Vancouver Island in British Columbia, the band was described as “Canada’s most exciting Newgrass band” after their performance at California’s Seaside Music Festival and has been nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award. When asked what sets The Unfaithful Servants apart from other bands in Canada, Jesse Cobb is happy to explain what makes his band unique, stressing the members’ combined instrumental prowess, love of tight three-part harmonies from the bluegrass genre, and the shared commitment to making each song “as epic and memorable as possible.”

Jesse said that the band grew out of “a chance meeting at a local jam.” Soon after moving to Victoria, British Columbia, Jesse met Dylan Stone, who complimented his mandolin playing. As the two men began to play together in small local venues, Miriam Sonstenes and Dennis Siemens joined them. It was Stone who christened the band The Unfaithful Servants, after a song by the late Canadian musician Robbie Robertson.

Influences on the band’s sound include Robertson’s own group, The Band, as well as modern instrumental music, newgrass revival, and old-school country. “The old-time way of folks just sitting down and coming up with music as a pastime has been the driving factor of the old-time influence,” Jesse explained. “When someone brings a song, much like learning old-time tunes, we may sit and play the song for hours, getting to know the melody and catching the right feel.”

As one learns more about The Unfaithful Servants and their dedication to storytelling and emotional substance, the fact of the six-year gap between the two albums is no longer a surprise. Both the careful curation of their material and their thoughtful craftsmanship have ensured that Fallen Angel is more than worth the long wait.

Grammy recipient Steve Smith produced the band’s first album in 2019. Despite the catastrophic hard freeze and the COVID-19 pandemic imposed on the music world, The Unfaithful Servants survived both the fluctuations of the post-pandemic concert scene and changes in band membership. The six years it took to rebuild the band “after the Covid times” and the additions of Mark Johnson and Quin Etheridge-Pedden brought revitalizing “capabilities, tools, and ideas,” Jesse said. Their songwriting has grown in depth and honesty.

“I believe the songs on Fallen Angel have come from pushing to record material that can be engaging instrumentally, while surrounding and supporting lyrics that are personal and raw,” Jesse said, further adding that the rhythmic ideas and lead lines from Johnson and Etheridge-Pedden have moved the band into exciting new territory.

Last September, when the band announced their first single, “Fallen Angel,” they expressed their excitement in an Instagram post about journeying into the world of bluegrass music. They described their sophomore album as carrying “the sound of the old world into a new light.” It is an unusual but apt description of all that The Unfaithful Servants offers in their new album. Their lyrical musings on mortality and the best and worst of human interactions today, the mournfulness in some songs serves to make the buoyant joy of their music all the brighter for the contrast.

Leading up to the album’s release in October, the band’s social media followers were treated to waterfront views of Canada’s many lakes and islands, evocative promotional photographs taken with a tintype camera, and more casual photos of band members with their dogs and a fierce-looking rooster.

The band is eagerly awaiting their upcoming tour stops, where they will play alongside Canadian folk singer Shari Ulrich, whom Jesse describes as “an icon.” It is a long way from Vancouver Island, in the westernmost province of Canada, to the most popular American music destinations, such as Nashville. The band’s enthusiasm appears to override any nervousness about their future and the very long journeys ahead. “We are excited to begin some touring in the US in the coming years,” Jesse said. “As a Canadian acoustic band, we are in a smaller niche community that exists in a more consistent, larger way in the States.”

“Negativity” is one of the last tracks on Fallen Angel, and one of the most deceptively simple. Without using clinical words such as depression or rumination, the lyrics accurately describe the destructive cycle of self-doubt. “All this negativity has defeated you and me for the last time,” Stone’s plaintive voice rings out: “I hope before you die you realize you’ve been on the wrong track.” By the time the listener finishes the album and has basked in the “new light” of its memorable songs, they have heard enough to know that The Unfaithful Servants is without question on the right track.