Posted in Whathaveyou on January 12th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Plankton Wat, aka DeweyMahood, formerly of Eternal Tapestry, has been putting out solo psychedelic instrumental offerings for the better part of 20 years, and noting that is my clever, ears-to-the-ground-always-on-the-ball-never-miss-a-thing way of telling you his work is new to me. The umpteenth Plankton Wat LP, dubbed Future Times, is set to release on Feb. 26 through Thrill Jockey, and if the advance-posted track “Nightfall” (at the bottom of the post) doesn’t hit you immediately, don’t fret and don’t give up on it. Give it another go. It might take that second time for the vibe to really set in, but there’s a soothing aspect to it that, once it comes through, is righteously affecting. I dig it, so I’m posting about it.
Preorders are up if you’re the type to get stuff done in advance. And if so, cheers on that. Some of us are always playing catchup.
From the PR wire:
Contemporary psych explorer Plankton Wat (Dewey Mahood, ex-Eternal Tapestry) announces new album Future Times due out February 26th, 2021
Future Times elevates Mahood’s psychedelic instrumentals to higher planes, finding hope in the turbulent events of 2020 and drawing strength from the natural world
One of the most prolific and inventive guitarists in the contemporary psychedelic underground, Portland multi-instrumentalist Dewey Mahood has announced his latest solo album as Plankton Wat, Future Times, due out February 26th. First single “Nightfall” sees Mahood sculpt a cinematic, new psychedelic and beautiful pastorale, building from distorted guitar figures and smouldering synthesizer drones to peaks of lysergic bliss.
Mahood’s music exists in constant communion with nature. From acclaimed albums with heavy-psych mainstays Eternal Tapestry to his prolific solo excursions, Mahood’s work has always been defined by his restless exploratory spirit and reverence for the environment. As Plankton Wat, his expressionist compositions exude a supernatural grace and patience, reflecting the resplendent beauty and mythical energy of the West Coast’s wild places. Mahood’s masterful and distinct guitarwork consistently blurs the confines of the instrument, at once texturally and melodically rich. Future Times elevates Mahood’s psychedelic instrumentals to new planes, encompass both the wild, seeking energy of free-improvisation and the deliberate arrangements of more traditional composition.
Plankton Wat – Future Times tracklist 1. The Burning World 2. Nightfall 3. Modern Ruins 4. Dark Cities 5. Teenage Daydream 6. Sanctuary 7. Future Times 8. Defund The Police 9. Wind Mountain
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 9th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
See? This is what Thrill Jockey does. Here’s some other fucking awesome band with some other fucking really cool sounding release and then blah blah blah there’s an album and it’s gonna be awesome and here’s a song and it’s awesome and it’s just one more awesome thing and wow I guess your life is just better now because of all this awesome shit right? I mean seriously. What gives?
Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? Some of us are out here working really hard at being miserable bastards, day in and day fucking out, and then here comes a band named Terry Gross after a fucking NPR host and the song is like spacey and jammed out but still has this core of songwriting and it’s really good and makes you want to hear more and then all of a sudden you realize you’re like interested in life and stuff and maybe even a little inspired by it to not be such a shit 24 hours a day seven days a week and then things just get better because it’s all really just a matter of perspective anyway and maybe you’re just tired and you need a nap or to hydrate or maybe you just fucking have low blood sugar or something and it’s not that bad and maybe the nap works and then the song’s still good and whatever fuck you okay fine life is great alright everything’s beautiful. Fine. Fine.
PR wire:
Acclaimed guitarist/vocalist Phil Manley (Trans Am, Life Coach) leads new Bay Area trio Terry Gross
Terry Gross’ debut full-length Soft Opening Out on Jan. 29th, 2021
Terry Gross is an engrossing trio composed of guitarist Phil Manley (Trans Am), bassist Donny Newenhouse, and drummer Phil Becker. The trio are also connected as owners and engineers at Bay Area recording spot El Studio, where they began improvising together as a way to test the boundaries and gear of the studio. Their loose, organic chemistry burgeoned into a deep camaraderie and a sound both expansive and exacting. The three experienced musicians crafted their first full-length album through the pure joy of playing together with no expectations. With the tapes rolling on their rehearsals, the band captures the exuberance of live performance and elevates those recordings through a deft use of the studio as their collective instrument. On their debut LP Soft Opening, Terry Gross channels their cosmic powers and considerable chops into a gleefully mesmerizing odyssey fit for an arena.
Soft Opening took shape over the course of 2016-2019, with Terry Gross writing and refining their songs. “Space Voyage Mission” and “Worm Gear” parallel one another as sinuous jams that pulse with adamantine fervor. Each mountainous epic churns spellbinding repetition and simplicity into dizzying gallops that take hairpin turns into sinewy riffing and elysian vocal melodies. Phil Manley’s guitar takes on a constellation of tones across “Space Voyage Mission” with drifting delays soaring over the Newenhouse and Becker’s driving rhythm section which all succumb to frothing overdrives that spin the song into entirely new pastures. The hypnotic throb of “Worm Gear” grows all the more enchanting as Newenhouse and Becker add subtle shifts to the single-chord barrage. “Specificity (Or What Have You)” contrasts these two in its more traditionally pop-oriented structure while retaining its predecessors wide-eyed energy and delves further into the album’s lighthearted-yet-earnest take on sci-fi tropes from space and time travel to the singularity.
As Terry Gross, Phil Manley, Donny Newenhouse, and Phil Becker are sonic scientists traversing the borderlands of rock. Soft Opening captures the simple joy of a no-holds-barred trio in stunning detail, transporting the listener into the splendor and freedom of rock.
1. Space Voyage Mission 2. Worm Gear 3. Specificity (Or What Have You)
Terry Gross are: Phil Becker – Drums Phil Manley – Guitar/Vocals Donny Newenhouse – Bass/Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 4th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Kind of astonishing how much Emil Amos‘ work remains his own. That is to say, he’s known for Grails and for playing drums in Om, but Holy Sons is his in a way that neither of those outfits could be, and his utter mastery of songwriting is on display throughout the forthcoming Raw and Disfigured — due Oct. 30 on Thrill Jockey. You can hear it in “Lady of the Hour,” streaming below. Sure, he gets adventurous with arrangements a but — it’s a double-album, you’d better hope he does — and he has a few friends helping out along the way, but it’s right there. It’s the song. The song is the primary factor in what’s happening. It’s a song by a songwriter who sat down to write a song. If you think that notion is either simple or not beautiful, you are mistaken.
The album details are copious, but at its heart, Raw and Disfigured is a collection of these songs, with both an intimacy and a breadth that is the mark of what Amos brings to this outlet.
From the PR wire:
Holy Sons announces panoramic new double album Raw and Disfigured Out on Oct. 30th, 2020
Holy Sons, the project of multi-instrumentalist and singer Emil Amos, has announced the ambitious, panoramic double album Raw and Disfigured, out Oct. 30th. Along with the announcement, Holy Sons has shared the album’s first single “Lady of the Hour”, a vista of sweeping pastoral layers and melodies that grasp towards hope rather than resignation.
Under the name Holy Sons, as well as with bands Om, Grails, and Lilacs and Champagne, Amos harnesses boundless sonic textures to embellish delicately crafted songs. His music balances cues from classic and indie rock traditions with a tenderness and sense of foreboding through unparalleled artistry. Raw and Disfigured showcases Amos’ mastery of songcraft through a seemingly impossible combination of subtle yet potent gestures, bold arrangements and resolute vulnerability resulting in songs as beautiful as they are crushing.
The recording of Raw and Disfigured took place largely at Sonic Youth’s studio Echo Canyon West. Amos, who plays the bulk of the instruments and sings the majority of the vocals throughout the album, is joined on a few pieces by drummer Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), as well as album and WFMU in-house engineer Ernie Indradat.
The album draws thematically from the archetypal tale of Quasimodo and classic ghost story imagery to illustrate the “hero’s journey” in the time of a coming apocalypse. From the opening swells, Amos creates a sense of mystery and tension. Melodic sections pierce through the thick fogs of unease with gliding choral harmonies and guitar lines. Rich vocals draw you into an exotic atmosphere of mystical musical sounds, while classic lilting guitar lines entice you further. Raw and Disfigured proves the enduring power of the rock ballad without dwelling on the nostalgic tropes. The ballads of Holy Sons are ballads for these dark times.
Raw & Disfigured tracklist: 1. The Loser that Always Wins 2. Lady of the Hour 3. Cast Bound King 4. Hand that Feeds 5. Permanent Things 6. Four Walls 7. Held the Hand 8. Lost in the Fire 9. Transformation 10. Slow to Run 11. Reach Out and Touch Something 12. Cóiste Bodhar 13. Nights Like This 14. Up on that Hill 15. Backslider’s Wine 16. Bloody Strings
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 14th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
I could live a thousand years and never be cool enough to have my opinion about a Sumac record mean jack shit to anyone. Their albums have gotten such a mountainous slosh of press hyperbole that really anything I have to say just adds to the laudatory din. If I’m like, “Hey, this Sumac record is pretty good,” in a forest, do the trees appreciate the insight? No, because they’ve all been cut down to make the fancy glossy magazines that have doused superlatives on the band since their inception. I’ll be lucky if I get to hear it before it’s released.
I dig Sumac though, and the records earn that cloying cred, so I’ll still likely find some way to write about May You Be Held. I’ve Quarterly Reviewed their other LPs, so yeah, that seems about right. Enough space to say, “Golly this is important and forward thinking,” without going on too long and making an ass out of myself. To myself.
Be informed:
SUMAC announce sprawling new album May You Be Held Out on Sept. 18th, 2020
Expressionistic metal ensemble SUMAC have announced their new album, May You Be Held, out September 18th. Picking up where the band left off with 2018’s critically acclaimed Love in Shadow, the trio of Aaron Turner (ISIS, Old Man Gloom), Brian Cook (Russian Circles), and Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists) push further into the extreme polarity of their sound with their latest collection of long-form composition and free-form exploration. Meticulously detailed and complex one moment, rudimentary and repetitive the next, and completely untethered and unscripted at seemingly random intervals—May You Be Held is an album that fluctuates between extreme discipline and control on one end and an almost feral energy on the other.
“As an artist in this time of significant upheaval, society seemingly having reached the end of its current iteration, it’s of critical importance to absorb and interpret this process of dissolution – and of the transformation that hopefully follows it” says Turner. “While I don’t believe we’re on the brink of collective destruction precisely now, this is clearly a pivotal stage in the story of humankind – and there is something that feels right about this music at this exact and very uncertain moment.”
SUMAC’s work has always been about transition between different states of being. Our sense of normal, and indeed our sense of life, is now being shaken. We don’t know what is coming next. We are looking for pointers towards the future, as well as things to hold onto in the moment. This is a fundamental aspect of May You Be Held’s larger theme. Musically, it’s about continual unification and divergence, and is imbued with the uncertainty inherent in that cycle. In that uncertainty there is also hope, frustration, madness, and a desire for connection. All this too is part of this moment in our history—everything happening at once, the simultaneous emergence of humanity’s best and worst characteristics. Lyrically, May You Be Held follows the humanistic themes explored on Love in Shadow, partially informed by Turner’s navigation of fatherhood and family life. “It’s clear humans have figured out many ways over the centuries to acclimate to adverse circumstances, and even to thrive in them,” Turner says. “My hope for our family, humanity and future generations, is that we find our way by doing what we have always done—invent, adapt, band together, and ideally, hold each other up through love and kindness.”
May You Be Held was recorded throughout 2017, 2018 and 2019 by Kurt Ballou at Robert Lang Studios, Matt Bayles at The Unknown, and at House of Low Culture.
SUMAC – May You Be Held tracklist: 1. A Prayer for Your Path 2. May You Be Held 3. The Iron Chair 4. Consumed 5. Laughter and Silence
Posted in Features on April 14th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
The statistics of COVID-19 change with every news cycle, and with growing numbers, stay-at-home isolation and a near-universal disruption to society on a global scale, it is ever more important to consider the human aspect of this coronavirus. Amid the sad surrealism of living through social distancing, quarantines and bans on gatherings of groups of any size, creative professionals — artists, musicians, promoters, club owners, techs, producers, and more — are seeing an effect like nothing witnessed in the last century, and as humanity as a whole deals with this calamity, some perspective on who, what, where, when and how we’re all getting through is a needed reminder of why we’re doing so in the first place.
Thus, Days of Rona, in some attempt to help document the state of things as they are now, both so help can be asked for and given where needed, and so that when this is over it can be remembered.
Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan
Days of Rona: Patrick Forrest of Eye Flys (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
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How are you dealing with this crisis as a band? Have you had to rework plans at all? How is everyone’s health so far?
As a band, Eye Flys has had a few things happen because of this crisis. Our planned Euro tour with Full of Hell and Primitive Man was cancelled, which included an appearance at Roadburn Festival. Our touring was limited as it was this year already because of prior obligations, so it definitely hurt us. Future short touring plans we were squeezing in for early summer are in question right now also. Not sure how it will play out, or when we’ll be able to get out again. Our LP Tub of Lard was released just before that tour was to happen, and at the beginning of the subsequent lockdown. So that effected our LP release also. As far as personally, we are all doing okay in lockdown in our homes right now, and are safe with our significant others/loved ones.
What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?
There is a “Shelter in Place” and order for “non-essential” businesses to close, social distancing, and to stay inside unless you need to go out in Philadelphia. Locally, people here are starting to take it more seriously I think maybe, but not everyone unfortunately. There are still people hanging in parks and stuff like it’s another day off. Everyone needs to take this more seriously and stay the fuck inside if we want to help. Me and my girlfriend are safe and healthy in my small West Philly apartment right now with my five cats. I have a porch here, so we try to give each other space and time to do other things to stay occupied. I’ve been trying to stay busy with music, playing drums and skateboarding. Take walks close by if it’s safe, etc.
How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?
I’m a union stagehand in Philadelphia so, the impact has been tremendous. I typically work in the field of events, concerts/rock shows, A/V, etc. I have a house job at a local venue here that was gearing up for its busiest season ever. Things started to slowly get cancelled and around the 13th of March, then all the work for us literally vaporized overnight. I’m very fortunate to have a union job and organization in place to help me, and able to collect unemployment and keep health benefits. I am worried about the effects it will have on the industry when we do come out of this. Will it hit the ground running and be crazy busy to make up for lost time? Will people be too unsure to come out to events? It is effecting music for sure. People’s ability to tour, record, or just play music together, and write. The one positive I see is musicians at home using this time to stay in and focus on writing and creating. So maybe when this is all over we’ll have a ton of new great music to check out.
What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything?
Posted in Reviews on March 27th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
I’m not saying I backloaded the Quarterly Review or anything — because I didn’t — but maybe subconsciously I wanted to throw in a few releases here I had a pretty good idea I was gonna dig beforehand. Pretty much all of them, as it turned out. Not a thing I regret happening, though, again, neither was it something I did purposefully. Anyone see A Serious Man? In this instance, I’m happy to “accept the mystery” and move on.
Before we dive into the last day, of course I want to say thank you for reading if you have been. If you’ve followed along all week or this is the only post you’ve seen or you’re just here because I tagged your band in the post on Thee Facebooks, whatever it is, it is appreciated. Thank you. Especially given the global pandemic, your time and attention is highly valued.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Ocean Chief, Den Tredje Dagen
The first Ocean Chief record in six years is nothing if not weighted enough to make up for anything like lost time. Also the long-running Swedish outfit’s debut on Argonauta Records, Den Tredje Dagen on CD/DL runs five songs and 59 minutes, and though it’s not without a sense of melody either instrumentally or vocally — certainly its guitars have plenty enough to evoke a sense of mournfulness at least — its primary impact still stems from the sheer heft of its tonality, and its tracks are of the sort that a given reviewer might be tempted to call “slabs.” They land accordingly, the longest of them positioned as the centerpiece “Dömd” seething with slower-Celtic Frost anxiety and the utter nastiness of its intent spread across 15-plus minutes of let-me-just-go-ahead-and-crush-that-for-you where “that” is everything and “no” isn’t taken for an answer. There’s respite in closer “Den Sista Resan” and the CD-bonus “Dimension 5,” but even these maintain an atmospheric severity consistent with what precedes them. One way or another, it is all fucking destroyed.
Come ye historians and classic heavy rockers. Come, reap what Rise Above Relics has sown. Though it’s hard sometimes not to think of the Rise Above Records imprint as label-honcho Lee Dorrian (ex-Cathedral, current With the Dead) picking out highlights from his own record collection — which is the stuff of legend — neither is that in any way a problem. Barnabus, who hailed and apparently on occasion still hail from the West Midlands in the UK, issued the Beginning to Unwind in 1972 as part of an original run that ended the next year. So it goes. Past its 10-minute jammy opener/longest track (immediate points) “America,” the new issue of Beginning to Unwind includes the LP, demos, live tracks, and no doubt assorted other odds and ends as well from Barnabus‘ brief time together. Songs like “The War Drags On” and “Resolute” are the stuff of ’70s-riff daydreams, while “Don’t Cry for Me My Lady” digs into proto-prog without losing its psych-folk inflection. I’m told the CD comes with a 44-page booklet, which only furthers the true archival standard of the release.
To those for whom Helen Money is a familiar entity, the arrival of a new full-length release will no doubt only be greeted with joy. The ongoing project of experimental cellist Alison Chesley, though the work itself — issued through Thrill Jockey as a welcome follow-up to 2016’s Become Zero (review here) — is hardly joyful. Coping with the universality of grief and notions of grieving-together with family, Chesley brings forth minimalism and electronics-inclusive stylstic reach in kind across the pulsating “Nemesis,” the periodic distortion of her core instrument jarring when it hits. She takes on a harp for “Coppe” and the effect is cinematic in a way that seems to find answer on the later “One Year One Ring,” after which follows the has-drums “Marrow,” but wherever Chesley goes on Atomic‘s 47 minutes, the overlay of mourning is never far off.
Belfast dual-guitar sludge five-piece Elder Druid return with seven tracks/39 minutes of ready punishment on their second album, Golgotha, answering the anger of 2017’s Carmina Satanae with densely-packed tones and grooves topped with near-universal harsh vocals (closer “Archmage” is the exception). What they’re playing doesn’t require an overdose of invention, with their focus is so much on hammering their riffs home, and certainly the interwoven leads of the title-track present some vision of intricacy for those who might demand it while also being punched in the face, and the transitional “Sentinel,” which follows,” brings some more doomly vibes ahead of “Vincere Vel Mori,” which revives the nod, “Dreadnought” has keys as well as a drum solo, and the penultimate “Paegan Dawn of Anubis” brings in an arrangement of backing vocals, so neither are they void of variety. At the feedback-soaked end of “Archmage,” Golgotha comes across genuine in its aggression and more sure of their approach than they were even just a couple years ago.
I know the whole world seems like it’s in chaos right now — mostly because it is — but go ahead and quote me on this: a band does not come along in 2020 and put out a record like Lost Orbiter and not get picked up by some label if they choose to be. Among 2020’s most promising debuts, it is progressive without pretense, tonally rich and melodically engaging, marked out by a poise of songcraft that speaks to forward potential whether it’s in the coursing leads of “Drake’s Equation” or the final slowdown/speedup of “Trappist-1” that smoothly shifts into the sample at the start of closer “Dead Space.” Mindcrawler‘s first album — self-recorded, no less — is modern cosmic-heavy brought to bear in a way that strikes such a balance between the grounded and the psychedelic that it should not be ignored, even in the massively crowded international underground from which they’re emerging. And the key point there is they are emerging, and that as thoughtfully composed as the six tracks/29 minutes of Lost Orbiter are, they only represent the beginning stages of what Mindcrawler might accomplish. If there is justice left, someone will release it on vinyl.
Michigan doom-death five-piece Temple of Void have pushed steadily toward the latter end of that equation over their now-three full-lengths, and though The World That Was (their second offering through Shadow Kingdom) is still prone to its slower tempos and is includes the classical-guitar interlude “A Single Obulus,” that stands right before “Leave the Light Behind,” which is most certainly death metal. Not arguing with it, as to do so would surely only invite punishment. The extremity only adds to the character of Temple of Void‘s work overall, and as “Casket of Shame” seems to be at war with itself, so too is it seemingly at war with whatever manner of flesh its working so diligently to separate from the bone. Across a still-brief 37 minutes, The World That Was — which caps with its most-excellently-decayed nine-minute title-track — harnesses and realizes this grim vision, and Temple of Void declare in no uncertain terms that no matter how they might choose to tip the scale on the balance of their sound, they are its master.
Lunar Swamp have spawned as a blusier-directed offshoot of Italian doomers Bretus of which vocalist Mark Wolf, guitarist/bassist Machen and drummer S.M. Ghoul are members, and sure enough, their debut single “Shamanic Owl,” fosters this approach. As the band aren’t strangers to each other, it isn’t such a surprise that they’d be able to decide on a sound and make it happen their first time out but the seven-minute roller — also the leadoff their first EP, UnderMudBlues, which is due on CD in June — also finds time to work in a nod to the central riff of Sleep‘s “Dragonaut” along with its pointed worship of Black Sabbath, so neither do they seems strictly adherent to a blues foundation, despite the slide guitar that works its way in at the finish. How the rest of the EP might play out need not be a mystery — it’s out digitally now — but as far as an introduction goes, “Shamanic Owl” will find welcome among those seeking comfort in the genre-familiar.
The nine-track/42-minute second LP, II, from Milano post-this-or-that five-piece Huge Molasses Tank Explodes certainly finds the band earning bonus points based on their moniker alone, but more than that, it is a work of reach and intricacy alike, finding the moment where New Wave emerged from out of krautrock’s fascination with synthesizer music and bring to that a psychedelic shimmer that is too vintage-feeling to be anything other than modern. It is laid back enough in its overarching affect that “The Run” feels dreamy, most especially in its guitar lines, but never is it entirely at rest, and both the centerpiece “No One” and the later “So Much to Lose” help continue the momentum that “The Run” manages so fluidly to build in a manner one might liken to space rock were the implication of strict adherence to stylistic guidelines so implicit in that categorization. They present this nuance with a natural-seeming sense of craft and in “High or Low,” a fuzzy tone that feels like only a welcome windfall. Those who can get their head around it should seek to do so, and kudos to Huge Molasses Tank Explodes for being more than just a clever name.
Set to release through Heavy Psych Sounds on the same day as the new album from his main outfit The Sonic Dawn, The Black Spider/Det Kollective Selvmord is the debut solo album from Copenhagen-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Emile Bureau, who has adopted his first name as his moniker of choice. Fair enough for the naturalism and intended intimacy of the 11-track/39-minute outing, which indeed splits itself between portions in English and in Danish, sounding likewise able to bring together sweet melodies in both. Edges of distortion in “Bundlos” and some percussion in the second half’s title-track give a semblance of arrangement to the LP, but at the core is Emile himself, his vocals and guitar, and that’s clearly the purpose behind it. Where The Sonic Dawn often boast a celebratory feel, The Black Spider/Det Kollective Selvmord is almost entirely subdued, and its expressive sensibility comes through regardless of language.
Sonic restlessness! “Fire Dome” begins with a riffy rush, “Forever Zero” vibes out on low end and classic swing, the title-track feels like an Endless Boogie jam got lost in the solar system, “Celestial Tunnel” is all-thrust until it isn’t at all, “Blind Faith” is an acoustic interlude, and “Dark Matter” is a punk song. Because god damn, of course it is. It is little short of a miracle Saturno Grooves make their second album, Cosmic Echoes as remarkably cohesive as it is, yet through it all they hold fast to class and purpose alike, and from its spacious outset to its bursting finish, there isn’t a minute of Cosmic Echoes that feels like happenstance, even though they’re obviously following one impulse after the next in terms of style. Heavy (mostly) instrumentalism that works actively not to be contained. Out among the echoes, Saturno Grooves might just be finding their own wavelength.
In some ways, Arbouretum‘s seventh album, Let it All In, tells you what you need to know right there in the title. It is a summary of the emotional perspective of the songs and the general outlook of the aesthetic, which embraces the world around it with open eyes and a keen sense of absorption and reflection, taking in ideas and melodies, turning them into cohesive expression, and giving them back in the form of eight songs that are as widely varied and stylistically adventurous as anything guitarist/vocalist/principal songwriter David Heumann and the Baltimore-based outfit have ever done before.
Issued by Thrill Jockey, it’s an album that might strum out electric folk blues on the way to an unexpected and understated guitar-goes-wandering jam on “No Sanctuary Blues” and then just as easily put keyboardist Matthew Pierce (also woodwinds) in the lead on synth for the two-minute instrumental “Night Theme,” the songs finding union through a thematic around the natural world even when Heumann‘s voice isn’t there to tie the material together. And it’s worth noting that even as Heumann, Pierce, drummer Brian Carey, bassist Corey Allendar and percussionist/drummer David Bergander get underway in opener “How Deep it Goes” — the title of which is doubly noteworthy as Heumann‘s 2015 solo debut was Here in the Deep (review here) — Heumann shifts his approach to a higher register so that the gentle delivery to be found on the subsequent quietly marching “A Prism in Reverse” and later pieces like “Buffeted by Wind” is replaced right away by something less familiar, something new. This as well speaks to the ethic of Let it All In as a whole, which remains distinctly Arbouretum‘s own while pushing the limits of what that means.
Tracked in a return collaboration by Steve Wright at Wright Way Studios in Baltimore with mastering by Sarah Register, the album is invariably marked out by its title-track, which arrives as an unmatched sprawl topped 11 minutes and taps into motorik beats and a sense of thrust that nothing else here or in recent memory from Arbouretum comes close to matching, be it 2017’s Song of the Rose (review here), 2013’s Coming out of the Fog (review here) or 2011’s The Gathering. They’ve certainly jammed and incorporated psychedelic aspects before — “The Rise” on 2007’s Rites of Uncovering was a positive freakout — but even with the additional percussion of Mike Kehl and Mike Lowry (the former also appears on “No Sanctuary Blues”) as part of the proceedings, “Let it All In” brings a progressive sense of construction that holds to its purpose even as it moves into further reaches. It goes, in short, until it stops.
And it’s not so much about pushing to the outer limits of — what? expectation? — as it is finding a place on the borderline between celebration and exploration; a fuzzy lead that takes hold around seven minutes in does no less than dance over the central rhythm beneath it, winding its way with a sure-handed cosmic pull. And since “Let it All In” is the penultimate inclusion on the album that shares its name, and since by the time it comes around, Arbouretum have already found the pastoral serenity in a post-truth world on “How Deep it Goes,” set to the organ-inclusive warm spaciousness of “A Prism in Reverse” — reminding of precisely the kind of “heft” in which they’ve long specialized, as well as the essential role of Allendar‘s bass tone therein — pulled all the wires and laid back down on “No Sanctuary Blues,” cast the meditative space of “Night Theme,” rambled and reveled in the fuzz-folk of “Headwaters II” with particularly satisfying snare punctuation, and reclaimed the shimmer on “Buffeted by Wind,” really the only thing left to do is throw in a bit of honky-tonk and call it a day, right? Right? Because where else do you go after the 11-minute flowing space-prog epic other than the ’70s AOR saloon, graced with piano by Hans Chew and culminating in an apex further marked out by an arrangement of trumpet and flugelhorn by Dave Ballou? How could it possibly be otherwise.
Of course, it works. The sudden turn from riding-light-through-the-galaxy to “High Water Song” (note also the opening “How Deep it Goes” to the closing “High Water Song” thematic bookend) might not make sense on paper, but as Arbouretum have proved on a reliable basis before, it’s the songwriting itself that is the underlying foundation of everything they do. The difference between Let it All In and even Song of the Rose, which was by no means lacking in breadth, is simply that they go further in a broader range of directions. All of these elements have been in their sound all along, but it’s as though the band have sought to reshuffle the balance thereof and the material is intended to highlight the varying facets of their approach. But again, it works, because of songwriting. After 15-plus years, Arbouretum have no trouble in positioning the listener where they want them to be, and with an overarching sense of melodic detail in vocals and instrumentation alike, from “How Deep it Goes” onward, Let it All In serves as its own best advice.
There is no mistaking a standout moment like Heumann‘s voice ringing out the repeated lines of “No Sanctuary Blues” — the whole song seems to come to a halt and give him the space to do so, then recover as it makes its way into its jam — but whether it’s that highlight or the sweet procession of “A Prism in Reverse” or the sunshine-laced bounce of “Buffeted by Wind,” the album as an entirety earns its communion with the natural world, and maybe it is looking for a sanctuary, or some manner of escape, but there’s nothing cloying or desperate about it. It remains clearheaded for the 45-minute duration and lets the horns finish “High Water Song” in a clean, sharp, but still fluid finish, serving as one final reminder that Arbouretum are no less accomplished than they are underrated. You’ll either let it in or you won’t, but if you take the time to listen, a record like this only makes your life richer.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 28th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Chicago-based cellist Alison Chesley will release her new album under the moniker of Helen Money on March 20 through Thrill Jockey Records. It’s the first new Helen Money album in four years since Become Zero (review here) in 2016 — though Chesley has hardly been idle in that time — and a glimpse at its atmospheric reach is being given in the streaming leadoff track “Midnight,” which will open the 11-song LP in duly cinematic fashion. Always experimental but on sure aesthetic ground, Chesley weaves layers of cello on each other to create a tense build and cascade that, as it should, only makes me want to dive into the rest of the album to follow. It would seem her work continues to defy genre and yet remain heavy in atmosphere and emotionalist intent.
Badass, in other words.
A European tour has been announced. Dates and album info, as the PR wire has it:
Helen Money announces powerfully emotional new album Atomic, out Mar. 20th
Helen Money touring Europe this spring
Helen Money has announced new album Atomic, out March 20th, as well as shared the album’s intimate, expansive single “Midnight”. Composer Alison Chesley stands as one of the most unique and versatile cellists working today. Under the Helen Money moniker, Chesley uses the instrument to access and channel the extremities of human emotion, employing extensive sonic manipulation and an array of plucking and bowing techniques to summon an astonishing breadth and depth of sound. A prolific collaborator, Chesley recently transcribed and performed on Bob Mould’s Sunshine Rock has worked with the likes of Jason Roeder (Sleep/Neurosis) and Rachel Grimes (Rachel’s), and she has toured extensively with Mould, Russian Circles, Earth, Shellac, Sleep and MONO. On her new album Atomic, Chesley pushes even further out towards the extremes of her output with a daring leap forward in her songwriting through minimalist arrangements that stand as her most intimate, direct, and emotionally bare work to date.
Atomic was written during a period of transition for Chesley and her family. She explains: “After my parents passed away, we had to find new ways to be – with ourselves and each other. The whole process brought us closer together, strengthening the bonds between the three of us; between us and our friends; between us and my extended family. My sister and brother and I would often get together at my brother’s house in the Redwoods of Northern California. Being there with them, looking up at these giant trees that were there long before we were, looking up at the Milky Way, looking out at the Pacific Ocean – it just gave me a sense of perspective and how connected we all are to everything.” The experience of recalibrating herself in the world came to subconsciously inform Atomic’s searching tone, Chesley pushing her music to surprising new places, both intimate and powerfully emotional.
Helen Money – Atomic tracklist: 1. Midnight 2. Understory 3. Nemesis 4. Coil 5. Coppe 6. Something Holy 7. Brave One 8. One Year One Ring 9. Marrow 10. Redshift 11. Many Arms
Helen Money EU tour dates May 2 – Copenhagen, DK – Vega May 3 – Goteborg, SE – Koloni May 5 – Prague, CZ – Klub 007 May 7 – Gdansk, PL – Drizzly Grizzly May 8 – Poznan, PL – Pawillon May 9 – Hranice na Morav?, CZ – Karnola May 10 – Kosice, SK – Taba?ka Kulturfabrik May 12 – Vienna, AT – Fluc May 13 – Zurich, CH – Schallbeton May 14 – Torino, IT – Blah Blah May 15 – Lyon, FR – Le Sonic May 17 – Lille, FR – La Malterie May 20 – Glasgow, UK – Broadcast May 21 – Newcastle, UK – Cluny May 23 – London, UK – Raw Power Festival w/ Pye Corner Audio, Enablers + more May 24 – London, UK – Raw Power Festival w/ Pye Corner Audio, Enablers + more
