This Portland, Oregon band’s fifth full-length is a sprawling double album with seventeen tracks and a 70-minute plus playing time.
The release had a troubled birth. It is overshadowed by the loss of bassist Aron Christensen who died under mysterious circumstances while walking on the Walupt Lake hiking trail in Washington State.
Band leader Nate Wallace says “I didn’t want the press for this record to be all about Aron’s death, but no matter how you slice it, it is the crux of this double LP.
On top of this major set-back, COVID-19 also disrupted sessions which took place at the Deer Lodge in Portland. After finishing the recording. the production was put out to dry while the band members pursued other projects.
When they eventually got round to listening back to the sessions, they thought of whittling the whole thing down to a single album. They decided against this course of action on the basis that the recording was adjudged to be an excellent example of the band’s loose live sound which often stretched to three-hour sets.
This meant leaving in Infinite Horizon, a rambling twelve-minute instrumental which features Aron Christensen on synth and justifies closing with a live version of Highway of Regret and Duke and 52nd
|
Aside from Wallace and Christensen, other musicians are J. Leaver on drums, Ezra Meredith on guitar and Barry Walker Jr. on pedal steel. Additional contributions came from Joel Meredith (slide guitar) and Ronjon Datta (organ). Sarah Gwen shares vocals on We’re Both Wild.
The finished version sounds at times like an Americana-style Exile On Main Street where Wallace’s blurry vocals resemble Time Out Of Mind period Dylan. Tracks include a punky cover of Dead Moon’s Spectacle , a rendition of Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home To Me (on Bandcamp only) and the wistful Dearly Departed, a song written by the late Mike ‘Reno’ Lund.
On their Bandcamp page, the band are aptly described as “a psych-folk thing of beauty” and this album is a druggy blend of tunes which range from stoner rockers to contemplative ballads.
Listen to the album on Bandcamp
|
