Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 01/23/2007
It's easier to divine a band's musical aesthetic when their press packet opens with a quote from the death scene in novelist
Paul Bowles' masterpiece,
The Sheltering Sky.
Arbouretum's
Rites of Uncovering closely echoes that novel's chief conceit -- transcending comfortable beliefs for the unknowable mysteries of the universe -- by stripping away traditional song structure and linear progression for more natural forms. Adhering to that blueprint,
Arbouretum's songs are visceral and elemental, a loose-feeling mix of
blues,
folk,
tribal beats,
stoner rock and
jam-based influences that belies the solid songwriting and musicianship at its core.
Arbouretum is the brainchild of
David Heumann, who has played with
Papa M and
Cass McCombs, as well as brothers
Paul Oldham (in
Anomoanon), and
Will Oldham (with
Bonnie "Prince" Billy). The latter's influence is especially tangible in
Heumann's voice and phrasing, though he tends to avoid the first-person confessional nature of
Will Oldham's narratives. Still, the likeness can be a bit disconcerting at first. The sludgy, funereal-paced album opener,
"Signposts & Instruments," sounds like
Palace run through
Black Sabbath's amplifiers, as does the nearly nine-minute
"Pale Rider Blues." But it's the
Brit folk-sounding songs
"Tonight's a Jewel" and
"Mohammed's Hex & Bounty" (based on a story by
Bowles' companion
Mohammed Mrabet) that most closely resemble
Bonnie "Prince" Billy's recent records -- that is if he had
Richard Thompson playing lead guitar.
While the comparisons may be inevitable, it's not fair to judge
Arbouretum's music by that lone yardstick.
Heumann's macro-lyrics are the yin to
Will Oldham's micro-lyrical yang, and there's a much broader range of styles at play on
Rites of Uncovering. There's the
stoner rock vibe that informs the 11-minute guitar workout
"The Rise,"which begins with a
gospel call-and-response before morphing into a jam that wouldn't be out of place on
Jimi Hendrix's
Band of Gypsys record.
"Ghosts of Here & There" has a distinct early
Grateful Dead feel, with
Heumann and
Walker David Teret trading clarion-toned guitar lines worthy of
Jerry Garcia. The eight-minute-long
"Sleep of Shiloam" also has some of the
Dead in it, though it could also be a
Built to Spill epic done in slow motion. Regardless of the style, most of these contemplative, minor-key songs include free-form bridges and/or outros that also highlight the interplay between bassist
Corey Allendar (
Cass McCombs), and drummers
Mitchell Feldstein (
Lungfish) or
Dave Bergander (
Love Life and
the Celebration).
Maybe the best way to sum up
Arbouretum's impressive
Thrill Jockey debut is to return to the
Bowles quote cited by the band: "There was the certitude of an infinite sadness at the core of his consciousness, but the sadness was reassuring, because it alone was familiar. He needed no further consolation."
~John Schacht, All Music Guide
;)
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