Hot damn. I don’t know that I’d forgotten how good this album is, but the refresher of putting it on again is certainly welcome. Salt Lake City’s Dwellers came about in 2009, and were of immediate note because of the involvement of guitarist/vocalist Joey Toscano, whose previous band, Iota, who once upon a 2008 put out a record called Tales (discussed here, discussed here) that no home should be without. As with any number of very good things, Iota didn’t last, and from their first posted tracks, Dwellers seemed to carry some elements forward while also exploring a heavier, psychedelic blues style. This would turn to be prescient on the part of the three-piece, which also included drummer Zach Hatsis and bassist Dave Jones, both then of SubRosa. As rhythm sections go, not too shabby.

Pagan Fruit (review here) followed behind 2012’s Good Morning Harakiri (review here; vinyl review here), with Jones adding organ, Hatsis vibraphone and Rhodes and other synth, Toscano playing a bit of harmonica, and so on to add to its bluesy flair. Seven years after the fact, in addition to the languid swing that is such a defining factor from early cuts “Creature Comfort” and the mega-catchy “Totem Crawler” onward into the even-more-open “Return to the Sky,” the album — released in 2014 as their second LP on Small Stone — remains organic in its production by Andy Patterson (who was in Iota as well and would eventually drum in the final incarnation of SubRosa; he’s also been in any number of other projects), deep in the mix by Eric Hoegemeyer and abidingly fluid in its construction. One can hear early All Them Witches showing up in the dreamy Rhodes notes floating over the end of “Return to the Sky,” and the later inclusion of Genevieve Smith‘s cello on “Spirit of the Staircase” adds to that song’s sense of foreboding in a way that only reaffirms the forward potential that still existed in Dwellers at this stage of their run.

So too the rollout of “Rare Eagle” at the end of side A and the album finale “Call of the Hallowed Horn” — guest vocals in the latter by Raven Quinn — both of which are longer form works despite being individually immersive along their own course. That is, it’s not just Dwellers jamming out twice in the same way from one to the other, though honestly, if it was, I doubt I’d be sitting here complaining about it. “Rare Eagle” hypnotizes after the salvo of hooks in “Creature Comfort,” “Totem Crawler” and “Return to the Sky,” where “Call of the Hallowed Horn,” with the prominent organ work, layered vocal melody earlier and the guest spot arriving later, pays off some of the moodier aspects of “Son of Raven” and “Spirit of the Staircase” while also accounting for the twisting solo work on “Devoured by Lions” and the boogie shove in the penultimate “Waiting on Winter” — side B is a back and forth in terms of tempo and the physical momentum of the songs — in its tonal fullness and motion persisting despite the drifting sections of its second half.

Does it all. It slices, it dices, it purees. It shreds and contemplates. It worships. It casts forth on a 47-minute course of nine songs each of which I’m thankful for since it turned out that Pagan Fruit was the final Dwellers studio record, followed just by a digital-only live release, also in 2014. When I went back to dig into links for this post (very purposefully didn’t read the reviews), there’s not a peep from the band by the end of 2014. They were in that year’s best-of coverage, but then that’s it. Of course, one doesn’t know if they had any idea going into Pagan Fruit that it was going to be their final release, but if I feel like sometimes a band has a sense for when things are winding down even if they don’t realize it. Maybe it’s a feeling that they’ve pushed as far as they can go along a particular path and it’s time for something else? I don’t know. It doesn’t have to be conscious.

I’ve spent some significant time wondering what a third Dwellers album would’ve been like, speculating on where they might’ve gone sound-wise in terms of building on the post-Black Keys vibe to which they add such weight of tone and atmosphere here. Would they have stripped back? Added more to the arrangements? There’s so much to build on in the songs on Pagan Fruit — each track has something to it, even if it’s the chorus of “Son of Raven” or “Totem Crawler”‘s non-sexist overtly sexual longing — that it’s easy to think they might have continued to broaden the psychedelic aspects at work in these tracks, to have pushed deeper into the airy dug-in stretches of “Call of the Hallowed Horn” — while we’re talking about sex… — but at the same time, if they did an entire record like “Rare Eagle,” just running out on jammier fare altogether, or decided to go full-time with a cello and composed an entire collection of songs with “Spirit of the Staircase” as a foundation, who the hell would have argued?

This is a record of which I was and am a genuine fan. I wrote a lot about Dwellers (not in the last seven years, apparently, but at the time) and even before I put Pagan Fruit on, from the moment I had the idea to close out this week with it, I could hear the songs in my head. The word is “memorable.” This is a memorable album, comprised of memorable tracks, on whatever format one might encounter it, be it CD, vinyl, download, etc. There might even be a tape version out there somewhere, I don’t know. My ideal is someone who’s never heard it hears it and is like, “oh shit, I never knew,” but really, I’m just happy to have had the chance to hit play on this after some measure of time. If you might be as well, that’s cool too.

Together, perhaps, we can wonder “Oh, what could’ve been” on a third album, and hold an asterisk that crazier things have happened than a band coming back after seven, nearly eight, years to put one out.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

—

So. Tomorrow, I’m going up to Woodstock, New York, to do an in-studio with A BAND for the weekend. I’m not sure I’m allowed to say who it is or what. I guess I’ll figure that out tomorrow and that will dictate how I handle the ensuing, inevitable, writing and photography. Maybe I’ll have a post or two up next week about it, maybe they’ll prefer I don’t post until later. King Buffalo had me hold off for months about Acheron, and I’m not gonna be like “hey freedom of the press don’t tell me what to do!” when a band is kind enough to invite me to see their process like that. I’m just not that kind of asshole. So I’ll talk to THE BAND and see what they think and go from there.

Next week though is also year-end coverage. Don’t expect much on Monday or Tuesday as I’m trying to put my final lists together and get the writing done. I’m both looking forward to and dreading it, to be honest, which is how I know it’s time to do the doing.

I’m pretty sure the Gimme Metal show that was supposed to air last week and didn’t will also air next week. I don’t think they’re adjusting schedules for my ass, in any case.

The Patient Mrs. and I finished the Get Back documentary this week. I take my Beatles very personally. Like Charles Manson, only without the underlying psychopathology that would have me believe they’re only speaking to me in their songs — in fact they’re speaking to everyone at a one-on-one level — and we saved the rooftop concert to watch with The Pecan. Highlight of my time as a parent so far to look over at him next to me on the couch and see him tapping his foot to “Get Back” and to shimmy a little bit to “One After 909.” Fucking a. Amid my myriad failures, at least I’m doing something right.

I’ll end on that note since it’s a positive one and last week was such a bummer. I got a few nice messages from people, comments, etc., and I very much appreciate that. But it’s not why I write something like that. I feel the need to say that because I don’t want anyone to be like, “Oh man, dude’s bumming again I now feel obligated to say something nice.” Please don’t. It’s something I need to do. I need to be honest to the moment I’m in when I’m in that moment. It’s not about spreading awareness of dudes with comfortable lives being depressed. I’m pretty sure anyone who sees anything I write knows that exists. I’m not trying to make some grand statement. I just want to work through my own shit, and for me, a big part of that is writing about when I’m having a hard time. Again, thank you for your support, and huge thanks to everyone who reached out, but I don’t want anybody to feel like I’m some cloying vagueposting shit trying to get attention for himself. I’m trying to feel my way through the end of a long week.

Today, I’ll note, feels better than last Friday at this time. That’s what life is. Ups and downs. Both are worth sentences in my mind.

Have a great and safe weekend. Depending on what THE BAND says, I’ll either be posting social media/other updates or just working on my year-end list while I’m up north. Either way, it’ll be a good time. I’ll do my best to remember to hydrate and hope you will as well. Be safe out there. Back Monday with… something…. maybe. Ha.

FRM.

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Tags: Dwellers, Dwellers Pagan Fruit, Pagan Fruit, Salt Lake City, Small Stone Records, Utah

This entry was posted on Friday, December 17th, 2021 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.