|
I'm about seven or eight years late with this one, but that only renders this an even bigger reccomendation for the above record. It's hard to find anything they sound like even now, seven years later. I suppose they've got things in common with Pavement and The Arcade Fire, and yet nothing in common with them whatsoever. Perhaps I'm just confused, which isn't totally unlikely having just listened (for the hundredth time this week) to 'King of Carrot Flowers pts 1,2 and 3'. Part one is a catchy, catchy acoustic guitar strumalong, part two is a bizzare declaration of faith in jesus christ over fuzzy, buzzy noise, before part three throws its safety-pin laden punk hat into the ring, ripping through the final 90 seconds in what seems like 9.
Whew. What have we here then? A crazy punked-out folk singer murdering acoustic guitars, that's what.
What we have here is also something touched by genius. Errant, crazy genius, but genius nonetheless. Jeff Magnums initially grating singing style becomes endearing, songs become stuck in heads, and you become sure that King of Carrot Flowers is the best thing ever. At least for around ten minutes, the very same ten minutes before 'Holland, 1945' arrives, another fantastic, fuzzy, perfectly paced and inspirationally written track, albeit somewhat more conventional than this discs first masterpeice. It brings Grandaddy to mind, circa 'Crystal Lake', only with added horn section.
Elsewhere, the title track temporarily restores the albums sanity whilst really moving the listener for the first time, juxtaposing with the rockout of 'King of Carrot Flowers pt 3' to encapsulate inside the first six minuts the very essense of this project, and Ghost, with its four minute build to a crescendo that creeps up on you, then passes before you notice, and 'Two Headed Boy pt 2' is quite simply one of the best songs ever written to end an album.
It's easy to see how influential this album has been, but that isn't really the point. The point is that it's a phenomenal work judged on it's own merits, and there's no excuse for you to be unfamiliar with it. It's definitely indulgent, but it's one of those albums you can count on one hand. It tries to do far to much, and succeeds at it all.
Ben Johnston |
| Coding: Darren Burrows