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Arbouretum - Song of the Pearl
I'm just gonna say it. I'm just gonna let it come right out and deal with the consequences later. It's not right. I know it's not right but I've just got to do it. You see, I really fuckin' adore this record. I adore 'Song of the Pearl' as if it were my own child; as if I'd seen it slip unceremoniously out of my wife in a wave of blood and gunk. I adore it so much I'd forgive it for pretty much anything. Hell, it could sleep with my best friend and I wouldn't give a jot. Not a freaking jot. There you go. I said it. Nailed my colours firmly to the mast like some hankering idiot. Now where the fuck do i go from here?
'Song of The Pearl' is Arbouretum's third album. It's immaculate. It's perfect. It's everything a record in 2009 should not be. For this is a record that demands - with a scythe to your throat - to be played as one long, sprawling unit. With a majority of record buyers craving smaller and smaller sound-bites to cram on their ubiquitous Mp3 players it's a little like trying to halt the North Sea tides with a couple of planks of chipboard and a bag of old nails.
So, okay, only a few people will find themselves in the position to discover this album. Those that do, the handful that dig deep enough and for long enough, will unearth an album of raw and unrestrained ambition that will blow their collective minds.
Ostensibly a roots album, 'Song Of The Pearl' uses British folk as the key component of its rather earthy foundations. From there it weaves strands of country and rock (Dinosaur Jr in particular) into the mix, creating textures that spasm alongside each other producing waves of psychedelic creative charge. It's an intoxicating experience. Each track leaves you giddy for more. The volume goes up and up and you move closer and closer to the stereo. How much acid does it take to do this to a band you ask yourself? A Fuck Load, is the only answer you can ever really fathom, however much you listen.
It sounds trivial to say (following such a sick-inducing gush of praise) but Arbouretum sound on occasions like My Morning Jacket with the stabilisers off. They're also a volatile Midlake lashing out at the serenity and banality of their rural surrounds. It's like Dylan in a shit-storm of doom rock and it will make you smile like you've never smiled before. Rarely does such a visceral experience feel so warm, lush and, well, welcoming. It's the album that will help you find a foot-hold in the seemingly impenetrable face of music in 2009. It will also make you shit yourself with excitement. Buy it. Buy it. Buy it.
'Song of the Pearl' is available now through Thrill Jockey
Official site: www.myspace.com/arbouretum
Words : Gus Watkins
'Song of The Pearl' is Arbouretum's third album. It's immaculate. It's perfect. It's everything a record in 2009 should not be. For this is a record that demands - with a scythe to your throat - to be played as one long, sprawling unit. With a majority of record buyers craving smaller and smaller sound-bites to cram on their ubiquitous Mp3 players it's a little like trying to halt the North Sea tides with a couple of planks of chipboard and a bag of old nails.
So, okay, only a few people will find themselves in the position to discover this album. Those that do, the handful that dig deep enough and for long enough, will unearth an album of raw and unrestrained ambition that will blow their collective minds.
Ostensibly a roots album, 'Song Of The Pearl' uses British folk as the key component of its rather earthy foundations. From there it weaves strands of country and rock (Dinosaur Jr in particular) into the mix, creating textures that spasm alongside each other producing waves of psychedelic creative charge. It's an intoxicating experience. Each track leaves you giddy for more. The volume goes up and up and you move closer and closer to the stereo. How much acid does it take to do this to a band you ask yourself? A Fuck Load, is the only answer you can ever really fathom, however much you listen.
It sounds trivial to say (following such a sick-inducing gush of praise) but Arbouretum sound on occasions like My Morning Jacket with the stabilisers off. They're also a volatile Midlake lashing out at the serenity and banality of their rural surrounds. It's like Dylan in a shit-storm of doom rock and it will make you smile like you've never smiled before. Rarely does such a visceral experience feel so warm, lush and, well, welcoming. It's the album that will help you find a foot-hold in the seemingly impenetrable face of music in 2009. It will also make you shit yourself with excitement. Buy it. Buy it. Buy it.
'Song of the Pearl' is available now through Thrill Jockey
Official site: www.myspace.com/arbouretum
Words : Gus Watkins
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