Mammoth Life - An American Movement

Mammoth Life - An American Movement
2010, Mammoth Life

Lawrence, Kansas chamber-pop ensemble Mammoth Life returns with their second full length album, An American Movement, on June 22, 2010. The follow-up to 2009’s Kaleidoscopic Art Pop finds Mammoth Life in a more ambitious mode, writing a concept album about the breakdown of civilization and the power of individuals to stem the tide of disintegration. Much like in life, Mammoth Life find both great success and tremendous growing pains in An American Movement.

An American Movement opens with “Be My Own Anthem, One’s Self I Sing”, sounding like the opening music to a show or movie, playing off Ennio Morricone’s classic theme from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Mammoth Life uses voices here to add different dimensions to the orchestration. “Discoveries” is a somewhat frantic rock/orchestral venture that flows on the energy of new things, showing how the energy of disconnected events can lead to great moments. “Disrupting The Extinction Of Distinction” continues in the same vein, but lacks the punch of “Discoveries”. With “Upon The Shoulders Of Giants”, Mammoth Life treads on the edges of a puzzle. The vocal harmonies are strong and match well to the undulating orchestration, but the lead vocal is very pitchy and a bit difficult to take.

“With Sanctity, Our Declaration” is the most accomplished composition on the album. There’s an upbeat, wagon-train feel to the song, which again uses vocalizations as instrumentation. Mammoth Life imbues the song with a surreal, lonely feel that hides within the jaunty nature of the tune; masking a song of memoriam as a declaration of freedom (or perhaps it’s the other way around). So having reached the pinnacle of the album, it’s a question of whether Mammoth Life would descend gracefully or precipitously. Unlike on past albums it is the latter on Kaleidoscopic Art Pop, it is the latter on An American Movement. “Dreaming Is Destiny” feels incomplete, almost incidental to itself. “Boy Blue, An American Lion” and “We Are Within A Holy War” give the impression that Mammoth Life is a bit lost in the middle of their concept, fighting to tell a story that just hasn’t developed enough yet to be elucidated in song. By the time Mammoth Life gets to “The Differences”, they’ve descended into an amateurish cliché of cultural study text that is artistically and intellectually beneath the band. Mammoth Life recovers their composure for the closing number, “Marvelous To View”, but it’s almost an afterthought.

If you’ve listened to Mammoth Life before, your expectations will be high for An American Movement. Over the course of the first five tracks your expectations will be met. Unfortunately it appears that Mammoth Life ran out of creative gas thereafter, filling out the album with tracks that, by the standards they’ve set with their past work, are mundane. The first half of the album released as an EP would be a solid 4-star effort. Unfortunately, the second half of the album struggles to make even 2 stars. Mammoth Life is good enough and unique enough that you’ll want to at least acquaint yourself with An American Movement. The elements that make Mammoth Life a great listen are present on the album, but it’s not the consistently great effort you might expect.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Mammoth Life at http://www.mammothlife.net/ or www.myspace.com/officialmammothlife. An American Movement drops on June 22, 2010. Expect availability through Mammoth Life's website, Amazon, iTunes and other web outlets. Photo credit: Val Skubal

Rasputina - Sister Kinderhook

Rasputina - Sister Kinderhook
2010, Filthy Bonnet Co.

Rasputina returns on June 15, 2010 with Sister Kinderhook, their 6th studio album and 9th overall. The Brooklyn cello-driven trio has been kicking around since 1991, coming to the attention of Sony Records in 1996. Since returning to the Indie side of The Force, Rasputina have continued to create eccentric Baroque-Folk driven by anachronistic vocal harmonies and cello-led arrangements. Rasputina's supporting character continue to (r)evolve, but Melora Creager continues at the core for Sister Kinderhook; an album that is all that any Rasputina fan could ask for. The songwriting is tacitly obscure, delving into deep historical and political references that in and of themselves will be unfamiliar to all but the most learned listeners, but in theme serve as practical parables for today.

Rasputina kicks things off with the dark and ethereal "Sweet Sister Temperance", bringing in a wealth of antiquated instrumentation to support what is musically a dark theme. "Holocaust Of Gnats" borders on magical, revisiting the fields of childhood to find them gone or changed. Biblical references to giant beasts may seem to imply the corporate world, as Rasputina chides society for continuing to act as if their choices do not affect the world around them (and ultimately themselves). "Calico Indians" is a political commentary on slavery 165 years in the making, and in spite of its age remains remarkably instructive for today.

"Snow Hen Of Austerlitz" finds Rasputina at their most lyrically deep, delving deep into a mythical story perhaps inspired by Jostedalsype. It is one of the grander arrangements on the album, done with theatrical attempt but in the low key, hand-hewn style that Rasputina affects. "Utopian Society" is a spoken word piece that references slavery and seems to dovetail with "Calico Indians". "Afternoon Of The Faun" is perhaps the prettiest piece on the album, but does get caught up a bit in repetition. Sister Kinderhook closes with "This, My Porcelain Life", the closest thing to a rock/pop turn on the album.

Sister Kinderhook is a stark and lovely return for Rasputina; long time fans will be thrilled. You definitely have to be on the same wavelength as the band for this recording. Rasputina does require some stamina from those unfamiliar with the sound, but the effort is worth it. Sister Kinderhook deserves your attention.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Rasputina at http://www.rasputina.com/ or www.myspace.com/rasputina. Sister Kinderhook drops on June 15, 2010. You can pre-order the album as either a CD or Download from Amazon.com. A vinyl edition will be available on June 22, 2010.

Review: TyLean - Between 10 And 2

TyLean - Between 10 And 2
07, Bast Records

On TyLean's sophomore album, Between 10 And 2, you will encounter madness in its most integral form. TyLean mines personal experience and a childhood that could be a movie of the week to skate the edges of madness before the ice cracks and the white insanity consumes her completely. Imagine Tori Amos in a schizophrenic fugue and you might have an idea of what awaits you. TyLean broke onto the music scene in 2005 with her EP, When All Else Fails, and is currently wrapping (The Unforgivable, The Unforgettable) an album that recalls her tortured childhood in rural Pennsylvania in vivid detail. These days the singer/songwriter/composer is living in London, where she continues to score soundtracks for short films and documentaries while preparing for an Australian tour.

Between 10 And 2 opens with The Last One Awake, a recording of the signoff message used by television stations in the US in the 1980's. This is a mark of sanity (or the end of it), as night takes over and hallucinations break through in Corner Of My Eye. The comparisons to Tori Amos are notable here, although TyLean travels further off the chart of madness than Tori's faeries ever took her. There's a frightening beauty here, ensconced in a mix of horror and madness that's as compelling and needful as a bad auto accident. Rosalyn is a horror movie in song, complete with a squalling cello and a story-line that would be edited in newspapers to avoid horrifying the populace. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind opens with a gorgeous Baroque-style piano and features an un-tortured vocal that reveals more of the beauty of Tylene's voice. There's also something hard in that voice; something that tells you things could go from beautiful to violent in a flash.

Distractions finds the narrator questioning why she has hallucinations. The arrangement is stark and compelling; not beautiful exactly but aesthetically correct; gothic in almost classical terms. Spiders could be either a hallucination or an allegory for the runaway thoughts that tend to accompany illnesses like schizophrenia. The lines between rational and irrational is blurred to non-existence in this stark musical monologue. TyLean even uses the music to help you hear the splits that happen where the narrator's mind dissociates from reality. Caught In The Web is a dark, minor-key instrumental played solely on pipe organ. It's not entirely clear what story element or mechanism this represents, although it's not uncommon for religion and fantastical thinking to mix in unusual ways in dissociative disorders. This leads into Misery, the closing track, a brief monologue from the mouth of madness that's steeped in allegory so deep it might take years of therapy to unwrap. The arrangement features what sounds like glockenspiel, bass and percussion, with a breakdown (both figurative and literal) coming at the end. The disc ends abruptly, leaving no answers, just questions.

TyLean's aural picture of madness offered up on Between 10 And 2 is as complete as our understanding of how the human mind works; that is, not very. We follow TyLean on a descent into madness, with no happy ending offered up to soothe the listener's psyche. This sort of highly provocative, discomfiting art generally has a limited demographic of consumers, but TyLean benefits from being a vivid and imaginative lyricist who can grab and hold your attention even while detailing the darkest aspects of the human condition. I was uncomfortable with Between 10 And 2, and yet I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't suspect it's something I will listen to very often, but I will never forget it.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about TyLean at http://www.tylean.com/ or www.myspace.com/tylean. You can purchase Between 10 And 2 as either a CD or download through CDBaby.com.

Review: Jessie Murphy In The Woods - Eight Belles

Jessie Murphy In The Woods - Eight Belles
2009, Rex Records

Sometimes you get into the middle of the recording process and simply realize the sound isn't working for you. That's what happened to Jessie Murphy, then a Masters in Music candidate at Columbia University in New York City. She approached two classmates, Marcia Wood (Wurlitzer, flute, clarinet, harmonica, pan pipes, vox) and Amy Wood (horn, cajon/percussion, flute, melodica, autoharp, vox) and asked them to come along for the ride, not realizing the instant chemistry they would find playing together. From the ruins of one project a primal force of Chamber Pop was born in Jessie Murphy In The Woods. The band has toured the UK (with a feature spot on Cambridge University Radio) and played dates all across the United States. Their first venture into recording together has resulted in Eight Belles, an EP that began making the rounds in mid-2009. Eight Belles holds the magic of a fairy tale and the promise of a troubadour, all wrapped up in the beautiful, gothic tapestry of music woven by Jessie Murphy In The Woods.

Eight Belles opens with New York City Lights, a love-song from Murphy to her constant companion and best friend, the city in which she lives. Murphy's voice is mesmerizing, and the harmonies coming from the Woods create moments so palpable they are almost frozen in time. In The Woods is a song about discovery that could be a metaphor for musical experience of the band, personal experiences, relationships, etc. The lost feeling perhaps implied by the title quickly slips away in the wake of a sense of wonder and an exquisite arrangement that's more Baroque than Pop. Owen Wilson uses a bit of humor to honor all those whose passion or talent drive them to the edge and beyond of societies expectations. When I Am A Horse Again is one of the more unusual musical allegories I've come across, recalling a perfect childhood moment and yearning for the sort of perfection we only know once. Written in a form of lyrical prose, When I Am A Horse Again is strong on imagery and may lose you if you try to get too analytical with the lyrics. Perhaps the biggest surprise on the disc is Eight Belles, a tribute to the horse who nearly took the Kentucky Derby away from Big Brown in 2008 until her ankles gave out. The horse was euthanized but gains immortality in a touching and beautiful song with a melody that's destined to be considered "traditional".

Jessie Murphy In The Woods is a serendipitous coming together of three musicians with singular voices who work together like The Muse's own instrument, creating magic each time they step on stage or in front of a microphone. If there's any basis for a Pop/Classical musical Renaissance, it will start with a band like Jessie Murphy In The Woods. The music presented on Eight Belles is innovative, beautiful constructed and has a distinct air of virtuosity about it. Welcome to the big dance, Jessie Murphy In The Woods. Before the night is over you might just be the belle of the ball.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Jessie Murphy In The Woods at www.myspace.com/jessiemurphyinthewoods, www.myspace.com/jessiemurphy or http://www.jessiemurphyinthewoods.com/. Presently there is no online availability of Eight Belles that I could locate, although if you contact Jessie Murphy In The Woods through their MySpace page I’m sure you can work something out.