"Confection" comes right out of the chute as straight ahead rock 'n' roll for the first minute until it gets interrupted by a softer interlude led by Hoff's cello(!) Soon, though, the rock 'n' roll locomotive gets going again with a concise, blistering Cline solo.
"An Evening At Pops'," a showcase for the drummer it's named after, is the sixteen minute epic piece of the album. For most of the time, it's a bubbling brew of Cline's feedback and distortion, clanging bells, the intrusion of primitive electronic sounds and Hoff's dissonant bowed Arc bass. The sweet noise is punctuated by periodic explosions of Amendola's volcanic fills buttressed by Clines' heavy metal rages before it sinks back down again into a simmering reload mode.
The cacophony that is "Pops" is followed by the folky, Americana "Angel Of The Angels." No real improvising here, the gentle-flowing tune filled by Cline's rich 12 string, demonstrating The Singers are willing to use a wide variety of methods by which to set a mood.
The calm/storm effect emerges again with the acoustic guitar-led soft number "Recognize I" followed by another explosive, free-jazz track "Mixed Message," at least explosive for the first half. True to the title, the song grinds to a halt midway through before building back to it's former grand intensity, only Cline & Company return with a rock attitude. As is found elsewhere on the album, The Singers take the listener on a audio roller coaster ride. "Recognize II", a semi-reprise of the first "Recognize," serves as another wind down tune.
The final track is perhaps the only disappointment of the whole album; "Squirrel Of God" is mostly a collection of odd, random noises and Cline's pulsing guitar that never quite gets off the ground. Although it appears it was about to when Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche appears with a glockenspiel near the end of the song, but, alas, by then it's too late.
Everywhere on Draw Breath, however, the playing and songwriting is imaginative and forces the listener to abandon most of their preconceptions of how a song is structured and played to get inside these tracks. Because of that, it may be hard for most people to get inside these tracks. Once you're able to get inside, though, you don't ever want to come back out.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
Strange things are afoot at
the Circle KBlogcritics . . . just last night I was lamenting to Saleski about how I'd somehow missed this release entirely, and here you are reviewing it today. Fear not - it's already ordered from Amazon and will be on its way soon...2 - Pico
My bad, I was a little late ordering this CD than I intended, which is inexplicable because I was especially looking forward to this one.
West, Saleski, zing, I think you'll all want to follow TJ's lead. Maybe Josh, too, given the Wilco connection :&)
3 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites and Boston.com.
4 - Pico
As always, much appreciated, Connie!