Tall
Firs – Ghostlight Ensemble (ATP Recordings)
DL
Out
Now
8
/ 10
Underground electronic folk duo release their new album.
Tall Firs, the New York based duo of Aaron Mullan and Dave Mies
certainly don’t believe in rushing things, and good things shouldn’t be. Doing the right thing and spending their recent
years looking after their families and health they have now turned their time
to assembling a long player of ten tracks.
Ghostlight Ensemble is the work of several years and many many takes
and retakes of the same songs before finally putting together the end product. This end product is a brooding affair,
there’s nothing capable of waking you from your slumber and nothing qualified
enough to startle you either. What is
here though is an affectionate album full of feeling and subtlety in equally
beautiful amounts.
Said to be a ‘series of tender letters addressed to friends’ it
maintains an almost ominous feel through perfectly executed and well-timed
pieces with contributions from members of Sparklehorse (Scott Minor) and Mary
Lattimore amongst others. Lattimore
providing some of her sumptuous trademark harp playing.
Album opener, Ghostlight refers to the lone light left shining
on theatre stages to avoid any personnel falling from the height. The popular culture is that it is left on for
the playhouse ghost. The track sets the
tone for the melancholic album perfectly.
Winter Wind may be one of the album highlights. A love song as
such, it maintains an air of attraction and wealth of passion which is
commonplace throughout the album. Clown
provides a gorgeous tinkling sound over the guitar playing, sounding like the
gentle ebbing tide washing in to shore.
The pace and feeling is intensified on Weeping Willow, a dark
and sullen affair with a deep bassline and (slightly) heavier drums. The feeling of impending gloom is intensified
by Mies’ gravelled voice and the continual drive of the pumping
instrumentation. It’s a track nothing like
anything else on the album but does serve to offer a change in direction before
the tone reduces once more with Cling To You.
The lyrics to Street Hassle hide a brutal street fight in
amongst its calming banjo and is pure poetry concealing justified profanities
in its delightful backing. Album closer
Panic Dreams provides the opportunity to reflect on an album of often
staggering quality and uncompromising beauty.
Links
ATP Recordings
Tall Firs website
Tall Firs on Twitter
Tall Firs on Facebook
Mary Lattimore (and Jeff Zeigler) album review
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