Arbouretum mainman David Heumann's J. Mascis meets Jerry Garcia guitarwork has shown up on releases by the Anomoanon,Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Cass McCombs and a host of other less well known indie rock groups. Being a highly sought after session player may be the reason why his own group has only released three full length albums in their seven year existence. While the group's two previous releases, Long Live the Well-Doer and Rites of Uncovering, featured a revolving line up of players, their newest release, Song of the Pearl, has a consistent line up throughout. Absent also are the sprawling instrumental passages that made up large portions of their previous albums. None of Song of the Pearl's eight tracks much exceed the six minute mark, focusing much more on the actual song than extended guitar workouts. Not that they don't still rock out, as evidenced on the track "Infinite Corridors," where Heumann and fellow guitarist Steven Strohmeier duel a la Neil Young and Danny Whitten circa 1969.
Heumann's songwriting shows a strong British folk influence, especially that of Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention. The track "Down By the Fall Line" mixes a haunting, celtic-inspired melody with a thick almost grunge-like musical backing. Elsewhere, the group experiments with a string arrangement on the title track and two drummers on "Thin Dominion." These embellishments never get in the way of the song, however. They only serve to further enhance the atmosphere of each piece.
The album concludes with an opium-paced version of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow is a Long Time." Though the idea of covering one of the most covered artists of all time may seem suspect, Heumann and co. pull if off with restrained beauty. A perfect ending to a great album.
Check out this video for "Down By the Fall Line" and let me know what you think. Cheers.
Comments
Sunday March 14, 2010 03:18pm
Johnny Jackson I really liked the video, b/c I too like to stack bricks. My computer does not have speakers so I was not able to hear the song, which I assume relates in some manner to the stacking of bricks.
