The
Spell
Touch & Go, 2006
rating: 4/5
reviewer: chadwicked
A common thread runs through The Spell, a thread more like barbed wire
than string, yarn, or fibrous cord. Someone has been disparaged. "Captured by
you and slowly pulled into your web/ The venom was smooth so I didn't mind a
thing." They must've used a crucible and a large wooden spoon, undoubtedly.
Call it what you will—curse, hex, oath—the spell is potent. Just listen to "The
Waiter #5." Hear the whooshing of a reverb tank and the piano keys touched,
sprinkling like nails hitting cellar floors. Tympani could be mistaken for
torture.
These are songs that should be performed on a rare cabaret stage in a slum—with
a Brechtian audience asking: "Why so glum, sugarplum?" A plum, like blackened
heart, rotten fruit, circled with barbed wire, squeezing the juices into a
cistern. "Every day shows signs of rust."
These songs speak of a spell, cast, and holding hostages, captured in something
haunted—a house, a chamber (perhaps an echo chamber, reverberating pianos,
organs, a Wurlitzer, saw, and lap steel); a vestige on the floor of
blood-blotted hair clumps. Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel writhe in
pleasure—they pop; vessels, lead balloons, music.
1. Tangled
2. The Spell
3. Not Just Words
4. The Letter
5. The Replacement
6. Return to Burn
7. GPS
8. The Waiter #5
9. Places
10. The Fix
11. To Bring You Back
Amore
del Tropico
Touch and Go, 2002
rating: 4/5
reviewer: scapusio
Change is something so scary that some people do everything they can to avoid
it. They'll avoid self-change, change to their surroundings, even to the type of
music they listen to. Aside from not being able to stop their own inevitable
change, they won't be able to prevent that same change from occurring in some of
their favorite bands. Yes, it happens to all of them. They get older, they
think, "Hey, let's get married and have kids, forget this Rock 'n Roll
lifestyle, I'd rather be changing diapers and worrying about mortgage payments."
For the time being though, I can be lax about that happening to some of the
bands that I enjoy listening to.
The first snippets of Amore del Tropico I heard were a perfect example of
the difference that had come about in the Black Heart Procession's sound.
"They're more poppy," one of my friends complained. Truthfully, the thought of
Black Heart Procession frolicking about on a musical sugar high was something
that I just couldn't comprehend. That's like asking someone to take the end of
the universe with a grain of salt. It just doesn't add up. And so I waited until
the opportunity arose to listen to what Black Heart Procession had in store with
their fourth offering, in full. What I was expecting was total absence of what
the other records were all about, namely, slow depressing songs that by album's
end had you ready to go to your local bridge and swan dive into oblivion.
The boys from San Diego had not gone completely astray the way some of their
musical predecessors had (from a musical El Dorado to Bosnia-Herzegovina.) A
change did occur in sound though. Nothing far fetched enough to make the band
unrecognizable. This is still Black Heart Procession. Every band varies in song
structure, sound, and if you listen carefully enough, even themes in lyrical
content will tend to change as time goes by. So one had to expect a
modification. Something would be slightly different. Eventually, Black Heart
Procession would come to their mid-life crisis.
Amore del Tropico is a concept record that tells the tale of a murder
throughout its 15 tracks. And would you believe that most of the album is
comprised of songs that are, dare I say, slow, depressing, and cause your heart
to go sick with sadness? Yes, I do dare! In fact, I'll stand on a tabletop and
announce it to the world with gusto.
The album starts off with a four chord introductory track aptly titled "The end
of love," which introduces the story of loss of love and eventual murder. The
sad little chord progression fades away and goes right into the first song on
the record. In "The tropics of love" we hear the familiar instrumentation that
we've grown accustomed to when listening to Black Heart records. Violins,
cellos, lap steels, optigans, and xylophones are just some of the instruments
noted on the album sleeve. The first inkling of change is heard on the
introduction. The tempo is a bit quicker than what we have come to expect. The
song offers the groove of an overly dramatic tale being told. It reminds you of
the way some old murder mystery began its title sequence.
"Broken World" follows and is slow in its offering. It sounds are reminiscent of
songs on 1, 2, and three. "Why I Stay Here", "The Invitation", "Sympathy Crime"
also follow suit to the Black Heart formula, which are songs that wallow with
that of the over dramatic. There are two songs that will shock people with how
different they are. "Did you ever wonder", and "Only one way" are songs that are
more up-tempo than anything else that is found on the record. They're much more
up-tempo compared to what is found on any of the earlier records. At first
listen, the record catches you off guard and you may wonder, "What the hell is
going on?" But, the sound works. Regardless of some tempo changes, added
instrumentation, and the occasional synthesizer that's thrown in there, the
record still gels to make a solid offering.
The Black Heart Procession have enough talent to write an album like this, in
which the sound is different from that of their previous records, and in which
they play songs that have fluctuating tempos which mirror the highs and lows of
suspenseful murder mystery concept record. Change can indeed be a good thing.
And in this case, done with enough talent to not make people gag with disgust
and throw the disc into the corner to be forgotten.
1. The End of Love
2. Tropics of Love
3. Broken World
4. Why I Stay
5. The Invitation
6. Did You Wonder
7. A Sign on the Road
8. Sympathy Crime
9. The Visitor
10. The Waiter #4
11. A Cry for Love
12. Before the People
13. Only One Way
14. Fingerprints
15. The One Who has Disappeared
