US Christmas Run Thick in the Hype
I’ve been racking my brain to try and understand why North Carolinian psychedelic progsters US Christmas (I’ve also seen it as U.S. Christmas, with punctuation, but on the album it’s without and I prefer it that way anyhow) have such a buzz around them. Musically, the six-piece don’t really do anything that’s never been done before, adding some Appalachian ruggedness to the well-established tropes of modern psych and post-rock, but I don’t think they satisfy in either their meandering structures or most spacious moments any need that acts like Naam, Quest for Fire, Farflung, Sula Bassana, and a dozen others don’t already fulfill. Seriously, I’ve been through and through US Christmas’ fifth album, Run Thick in the Night (Neurot), and the only reason I can come up with for why US Christmas has received all this hype and these other bands haven’t is because Scott Kelly likes them. Apparently that makes all the difference in the world.
Not that I wouldn’t also seek to curry favor from the venerable Neurosis guitarist and vocalist for a musical project, and not that this is anything to be held against US Christmas in terms of their sound or the quality of Run Thick in the Night as both a whole album and collection of songs, but clearly these things matter. Since Neurot released US Christmas’ Eat the Low Dogs in 2008, I feel like a shitload of people have grasped onto the band in a big way as torchbearers for modern space-driven psychedelia, and don’t get me wrong, Run Thick in the Night has its moments — at 76 minutes long, there’d better be a couple in there — and the band has ironed out some of its kitchen-sink approach (lineup changes are also a factor), but in terms of crafting memorable songs, US Christmas seem to take more of a part-construction point of view, making tracks that flow well enough but don’t necessarily stay with you after listening.
Further, there are times on Run Thick in the Night (the drum/effects-only “The Quena” comes to mind) where it feels like US Christmas have no editorial voice whatsoever. It’s like they were in the jam room and every idea that every one of the six members of the band came up with got used, and for every instance like the gorgeously achieved build of “Deep Green,” there’s a counterpart “Fonta Flora” that feels misdirected and redundant. As vocalist, guitarist Nate Hall affects a kind of half-speed Eddie Glass throughout much of the material, but he leaves plenty of room for the instruments to build the atmosphere, which they do with extra drums and percussion from B.J. Graves and Justin Whitlow (Tony Wyioming of Minsk also guests on percussion), synth also from Whitlow and Matt Johnson (also therein and guitar), guitar from Chris Thomas, underrepresented bass from Josh Holt and Meghan Mulhearn’s violin. Mulhearn adds vocals to “Ephraim in the Stars,” and that’s good for changing up the sound, but with an album closer to 80 minutes long than not and basically one approach throughout all the material, it’s hard for it to not be repetitive. Maybe that’s what they were going for, I don’t know. It works in some spots and doesn’t in others, where it undercuts the (one could argue overly-) romanticized rural vibe of the tracks.
They open with their longest cut, “In the Night,” and I’ll certainly give points for that, but as regards much of Run Thick in the Night, I’m still scratching my head. For sections like the brief instrumental “The Leonids,” I feel completely immersed in US Christmas’ sound, and whatever flavor their Kool-Aid is, I’m ready to drink it, and then at other times, I’m lost, distracted and, frankly, bored. Of course, with Sanford Parker’s production, the sound of Run Thick in the Night is clear and crisp and full of the depth one would expect, but even that can’t fix the situation when the material that comprises the album is uneven. I want to like this band, and I’ve tried more times than I care to admit to hear what it us Mr. Kelly might hear in their sound, but I keep going back to the same phrase when it comes to US Christmas, and that phrase is, “Congratulations to me; I just don’t fucking get it.”
So there you go.
Tags: Marion, Neurot, North Carolina, US Christmas
You’re not alone
I agree totally, I just posted a review myself but you stole my thunder with your comments ha ha. I put a link to here as you review sums it up better than I ever could….great work.
I think you are confusing “hype” with a lot of people really, really liking it.
[NOTE: There was an error in this comment that I needed to fix. You see in the brackets below the words “gone after,” which I judged by the context of what was around it was what the commenter meant to say, but I don’t know that. Sixpiece, if I’m wrong, please correct me, and I’m sorry for the error. Thank you for the valid, thoughtful comment. — H.P. Taskmaster]
I believe a large part of this album’s repetition and lack of focus has to do with the fact that this “band” were only together for like two months before they recorded this album. Four of six members of the Eat The Low Dogs band were [gone after] Roadburn/SCION Fest appearances and countless character/career(?!) building hometown/regional gigs. So that’s a lot of chemistry flushed straight down the drain. In a mad dash to find new members for the pending sessions the two remaining members of USX somehow came up with two drummers (baffling/overkill) and the grab bag line up they have now. Although those enlisted are competent musicians, that’s not all it takes to write compelling music all the time, especially given the deadlines and the short amount of time they had to find “a sound” for the RTITN album.
I believe subsequent releases will be more focused and the band’s sound will genuinely reflect the time they’ve spent together bumping around in the van and practice spaces. Congratulations to them for pulling off the critical acclaim they were destined for after ETLD. They could’ve honestly released ANYTHING and received such rapturous applause, as is evident.
I live pretty close to where they’re from, so they play around here often, and though I agree I don’t think I’d sit through a whole album of their work, I’ve heard terrific things about their live shows. Music like theirs is more suited for a live experience anyways, I would say.
Oh wow! What a weird instance for their to be an error. I think what’s missing is something like this:
“Four of six members of the Eat The Low Dogs band were fired from/left the band (and have since formed TASHA YAR), who had been apart of USX since the beginning (close to a decade). This is the same band that appeared on all recordings prior to ETLD and also the Hawkwind Triad. Not to mention the well reviewed…” (correct after brackets above)
But you summed it up pretty good with two words! HAHA! So much for plugging the “new” band…
Haha, actually I’ve got a lot of coverage planned in the next month or so for Tasha-Yar as well (they were already covered in an On the Radar, too), so they’ll get theirs. No worries. :)
No need to ponder why you “don’t fucking get it.” It happens. The solution is to move on to music you do get. No worries.
I get US XMAS. Fortunately others do as well. Scott Kelly is irrelevant to that equation. I find it strange that you rationalize your inability to appreciate this band where others do by dismissing those-not-like-you as Kelly- Synchophants. Having read many of your reviews, I think you could have come up with something less. . .well. . .stupid.
Your review is, as always, well written and engaging, but I suggest you not list it on your C.V. or otherwise hold it out as an example of your finer efforts.
If you don’t get it, why review it? No one asked for your opinion did they? Try and do a better job of making an album.
This is one of the dumbest reviews I have ever read. If you don’t get it, that is your fault. Don’t blame the water when you get way, way in over your head.