Talmud Beach, Chief: Forest Blues
[Note: Click play above to hear the premiere of “Mountain Man” by Talmud Beach. Chief is out March 18 on Svart.]
There are several different kinds of blues that pop up throughout Chief, the second full-length and Svart Records debut from Finnish trio Talmud Beach. “Pharmacy Blues” is first, followed later by the somewhat less politically correct “Chinaman Blues” and “Born with the Blues,” but whatever the context, the band’s blues are delivered in ultra-mellow, laid back form. Talmud Beach find pastoral serenity the way most bands find their overdrive pedal. It is a humble nine-track/37-minute listen that is deceptively rich in its overall affect without coming close to overwhelming even in its moments of greatest arrangement depth, as on “Mountain Man” or the extended closing title-track.
Elements of Finnish folk pop up in the sweet acoustic guitar strummed throughout and particularly on centerpiece “Kekkonen,” but even on the more electrified “Forest,” birdsong maintains a connection to the natural world, and that’s an atmosphere that is established on the brief boogie-blues opener “Ain’t So Young” and maintained as the album progresses from front to back, guitarist Aleksi Lukander leading a subdued shuffle as bassist/vocalist Mikko Siltanen unfolds a simple hook that needs nothing more than it presents, drummer Petri Alanko moving the proceedings along at what will become one of the record’s faster clips by the time it’s done. The mood is humble, but not still, and while Talmud Beach — whose name derives from members of the band having been accosted on an Eastern European beach by local anti-Semites — maintain that mood, they also set up a dynamic range sound-wise in which it plays out.
To wit, “Pharmacy Blues” is likewise upbeat, with a classic snare shuffle rhythm and an especially catchy chorus, but “Mountain Man” takes a turn toward a more folkish-style, interweaving layers of guitar as it fluidly moves through a verse and chorus, some light but still quick percussion underlying this peaceful, serene setting. A vocal highlight with Alanko taking the lead role, it’s one of the album’s most memorable impressions, building along a linear course after its second chorus with harmonized singing and an arrangement of increasing complexity until finally, it’s a chorus fading out as birdsong takes over as an interlude before the big chill-out of “Forest.”
Quieter and based around a creeping blues bassline, “Forest” nonetheless basks in psychedelia in its background guitar work and trippy lyric about journeying into woods and finding — wait for it — mushrooms, leading to a host of visions in nature. Subtle fuzz emerges as “Forest” moves past its midsection, but Talmud Beach hold firm to the spirit of the record they’ve established, ending with a stretch of silence before “Kekkonen” kicks in with arguably Chief‘s most active arrangement, a sax (or sax sounds, if it’s keys) added to play up a humppa feel for the track about former Finnish President Urho Kekkonen, presented in the band’s native language and with a clap-along bounce. Still, if it’s a party, that means the drums are harder hit, the guitar is louder and the hook is vital in whatever language, and Talmud Beach do as well in the environment of “Kekkonen” as they did among the birds in “Forest,” the one-two punch of the tracks demonstrating a decent portion — not all — of the band’s range while keeping the album’s flow duly liquefied.
“Snow Snow Snow” manages to be individual despite a chorus that features the line “let it snow,” which is no minor feat, and plays harmonies off a bluesy verse in a kind of classic call and response, but its most resonant impression is in the layers of acoustic and electric guitar weaving through and the soft, wish-it-was-longer interlude in the track’s midsection before the last verse, chorus and acoustic leadout. It’s just 2:45, but “Snow Snow Snow” makes a fitting companion both for “Forest” and “Mountain Man” and captures a lot of Chief‘s overall mindset. The subsequent “Chinaman Blues” is another turn, the speaker in the song longing for an escape from everyday Finnish life and imagining being Chinese, apparently, as the farthest thing from it. Again, not exactly politically correct in its nomenclature, and almost unfortunately catchy, but its psych-blues blend finds a middle space between “Ain’t So Young” and “Pharmacy Blues” and songs like “Mountain Man,” and it finishes with a heavier push of fuzz guitar, keys and harmonized vocals that seems to payoff much of the album’s momentum while also leading smoothly into “Born with the Blues,” the lyrics of which trade off Finnish and English lines in the verses and choruses while keeping a steady bounce throughout.
That sets up nine-minute closer “Chief,” which uses its extended runtime for a spacious psychedelic sprawl after the ’70s folk chorus, “If you are the chief/Wear the rainbow hat,” keeping an exploratory feel to what’s probably a nonetheless plotted progression, incorporating more sunshine-soaked sounds to bookend with “Forest” and allowing Talmud Beach to play their way off the record on a proggy but still cohesive note, a melodic swirl of vocals and some still-earthbound guitar leading peacefully to silence. Even if the songwriting wasn’t so effective throughout, Chief would likely offer substance based on its atmosphere alone, but the memorable core of these tracks and the calmness with which they’re delivered makes the record belong equally to the ethereal and the terrestrial. Talmud Beach walk that balance throughout with confidence and an approach that doesn’t need to be loud to make itself heard.
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Tags: Chief, Finland, Jyväskylä, Svart Records, Talmud Beach, Talmud Beach Chief
