Remora, Pale Horse and Rider, Rivulets |
Rock and alcohol have gone hand in hand since before Joe Cocker vomited on his first audience. With The Alcohol EPs, Silbermedia artists Remora, Pale Horse and Rider, and Rivulets have taken this connection to its logical conclusion: they've made a CD dedicated to alcohol, with songs celebrating, composed, and performed under the influence of Demon Rum. It's an interesting concept, but, alas, one which calls to mind William Shakespeare's comment that alcohol "provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance." Our first performer, Remora, gives us droning minimalist antifolk. "I Told Jesus Christ How Much I Love Her" and "Built" evoke a sense of longing... but the out-of-tune guitar evokes the dull ache of a Sunday morning hangover. (He may call it "Open Tuning" ... but one shouldn't break musical rules before knowing and understanding them). "Joy Division" and "Oblivion" rely more on effects and less on acoustic strumming, and are marginally more successful. Still, these left me flat; bands like Low and Vehemence Realized have done the mumbled song-speak more effectively, while Michael Gira has delved into the darkness with far more disturbing and satisfying results. Pale Horse and Rider's "Bruises Like Badges" and "Open Letter to an Empty Bar" have acoustic guitar lines which reminded me of early Neil Young, but they lack Young's pithy sense of story. "You've Been Keepin' Secrets Again" goes on for seven minutes and never tells you as much about the narrator as one stanza of "After the Gold Rush" or "Mr. Soul." The lyrics of "Pincushion Hands" are more interesting but here the melody falls short. A creative writing class, combined with an extensive study of Southern Gothic literature and the Complete Hank Williams (Senior) Boxed CD Collection, is in order here; for extra credit, they should also examine the work of Messrs. Young and Dylan, along with Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska." There's a fine line between an extended shoegazer jam and self-indulgent whining. With their 12'25" song "Anaconda," Rivulets crosses that line. "Gimme Excess" and "Shakes" suffer yet again from untuned guitars. I know that acoustic guitars regularly go out of tune, but fercryinoutloud, guys, you're in the STUDIO!!! If you hear that your E string is flat, you can always correct it and do another take... and if you can't hear the difference between in-tune and out-of-tune, then take up painting and quit making reviewers suffer. "Your Light and How it Shined" features a drummer and a country-influenced beat, and is better than what came before it if only because it is mostly on key. Tom Waits and Bob Dylan have unconventional voices (to put it charitably); Ray Davies regularly sings a half-step flat, and Leonard Cohen has written dozens of memorable songs using the four notes he can sing. Each of these men are also brilliant poets. There is precious little brilliance here, just lots of lazy self-indulgence. This collection is in dire need of a cup of black coffee and a 12-step program. Recommended only for the masochistic. REMORA Silber Records |