Shearwater: Rook

Shearwater is one of my very favorite bands, and one of the few bands that I can confidently say will be remembered a long time from now, so it seems odd that it's taken me nearly a month to write anything about it. The reason for this is two-fold; the first reason is that this is the type of album that takes time to digest, to understand in whole. The second reason is that I wanted to wait until I could acquire the album on vinyl and listen to it that way, before I wrote my final thoughts on the album. My thoughts are this: this is one of the best albums of the year and the best full-length album the band has released (the Thieves EP is in a different category all together). It may not have the dynamic, standouts that Palo Santo had, or the contrasting in singers and songwriters that Winged Life has, but it is the band's most consistent, mature, elegant, and best constructed album. The Talk Talk influence that lay beneath the surface of previous albums is brought to a head here, with almost every track save "Century Eyes" having the stamp of Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock on it. That's not to say that this is a Talk Talk tribute album, indeed not. Besides the band's own considerable original input, there are traces of Nico, John Cale, and even Van Morrison in here. And besides, Talk Talk is a band that is incredibly under referenced by non-instrumental groups. However, all the staples of a Shearwater album are here, Jonathan Meiburg's stunning, otherworldly, choirboy vocals, and the blend of piano, banjo, electric guitar, bass, and drums that forms the foundation of so many of the band's songs. Each song is also accented with multitudes of strings, horns, harps, woodwinds, and even the world percussion instrument or two, in such a way that balances perfectly the dark, organic base of the songs with grand, sweepingly majestic flourishes. It's a dense, albeit painfully short album, that places Shearwater firmly in the upper-echelon of mature, professional bands.
Note: the album's b-sides "North Col", "So Bad", and "The Rainbow" (a Talk Talk cover) are all worth checking out, and are available as bonus tracks on the itunes release of the album.
Listen ("Leviathan Bound")

Grails: Take Refuge in Clean Living

Last years release by Grails, Burning Off Impurities, was an amazing psychedelic through world cultures, down the silk road and on into the far east. It mixed Arabian, Indian, and Oriental influences and instruments with the style of American folk, blues, and drone that the band had developed on earlier releases. The band's latest album, Take Refuge in Clean Living is a supposedly a full-length release, but since it only has five tracks that amount to about a half an hour of music (last years album was 8 songs, fifty minutes) I'm more inclined to view this as an EP. It's this fact that makes me less disappointed in the album, that, while still an excellent collection of music, doesn't quite live up to the bar set last year by the album. The album starts strongly, "Stoned at the Taj Again" ranks among the band's best material, with it's subtle sitar accents and a sweet drone guitar, throbbing bass combination. The next songs don't fare quite as well, "PTSD" is a directionless, rambling electric guitar mess and "11th Hour", while interesting, really doesn't draw you back for more listens. "Take Refuge" improves on the last two tracks drastically, with a similar style to the opening song, but it lacks the subtle exotic instrumentation that makes the band so great. "Clean Living" closes that album on a puzzling note, with a nearly six minute long ambient drone track that is mostly strings and piano and sounds more like something from The Kilimanjaro Dark Jazz Ensemble than from Grails. Again, it's not that this is a bad album, it's just that, the opening track aside, it doesn't have the dynamic tunes that it's predecessor had. There's no creepy banjo waltzes like "Soft Temple" or aggressive romps like "Dead Vine Blues", just some unfocused, meandering songs that have potential, but fail to deliver on them. But again, I see this as an EP, not a full-length, and EPs are notorious for experimentation, so let's hope that's all this is.
Listen ("Stoned at the Taj Again")

múm: Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy

Let's talk underrated albums of '07; I was a fan of múm's fourth album, Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy when it was released, but there wasn't much separating me from the album's detractors (it has a 66 on review collector website Metacritic). But after having the album for nearly a year, it's grown on me considerably and my incredulity at all the negative reviews has increased mightly. Pitchfork's review contained this line "While this is certainly not a great record, it probably has broader appeal." which really puzzles me. What exactly, about a weird psychtronic album with lots of bizzare samples and traditional instruments is more appealing than the band's early albums, full of warm and gentle electronica and the gorgeous vocals of Kría Brekkan? (who left the band before Go Go was recorded) Nothing, what makes this album great is it's mix of joyful pop moments, and abstruse, artsy sequences. Is it múm's best album? No, but is it at all a bad album? Absolutely not, it's a charming, occasionally otherworldly sounding album that is a good listen no matter who you are.
Listen ("Dancing Behind My Eyelids")

Okkervil River: The Stand-Ins

The best band of the 21st century is back less then a year after their last album was released. The Stand-Ins is a collection of tracks left over from The Stage Names sessions (it was originally supposed to be a double-album) and much like the Black Sheep Boy Appendix, it continues on the themes of it's sister album with a similar music style. Unlike the aforementioned EP, The Stand-Ins is a full length album. That's right, 40 more minutes of folksy rock and roll awesomeness! The album has 7 new songs, 3 short interludes, and a previously released (and totally amazing) b-side "Starry Stairs". Much like The Stage Names, the songs are split between slow burning mid-tempo tracks and rollicking, upbeat jams. The former includes songs like the organ-laced "Blue Tulip", the piano/guitar led "On Tour With Zykos" and the lovely closing track "Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979", these tracks really highlight Will Sheff's songwriting (which is incredible on every track anyways) and the band's ability to stay out of the way, yet still create beautiful arrangements that eventually unfold into some fantastic instrumental break. The upbeat tracks include the Sheff/Jonathon Meiburg duet "Lost Coastlines", the pounding, beat influenced "Singer-Songwriter", the synth (SYNTH!) and guitar dueling "Pop Lie", and the folky "Calling and Not Calling My Ex". These songs are Okkervil River at their loosest, and really show the band just having fun. They are a lot more detailed than the faster tracks on The Stage Names, weaving in more instruments with more complex arrangements. All in all, it'll take many listens to find where this album fits in with Okkervil River's catalog. It's certainly no Black Sheep Boy, but it's much more promising than The Stage Names, and more mature than the band's first two albums. We'll just have to see...
Listen ("Lost Coastlines [Live]")