Boduf Songs
Kranky, 2005
rating: 3.5/5
reviewer: willcoma


What's a Boduf song? Well, it's buoyant yet rudderless so as not to disturb the stillness of the water. It's a shiftless boat-of-song somehow pressed on by a slight, numb sort of sideways trajectory.

It makes sense that this boat's cast off from a port like Kranky. Those who consume and shiver gladly in the cold light of Low and Labradford will surely want to drift along with these nine well-tempered dirges.

Occasionally, the dreary lulls are pierced by loud interruption. Metal scrapes, fuzzy backward electric guitar, aimless percussive bits, drones and static make brief appearances. These tend to make the guitarist's incidental sliding fretboard scrapes sound more jarring than they would on your typical folk recording. So as a result, what would typically be sleepy, reflective lilts are prickly tomes to tentativeness and apprehension.

These are more gray meditations than songs. While they are more ornately produced, there's often the same sense of ambling off the path and losing oneself to the woods elicited by Six Organs (actually kind of sounding like Chasny on the instrumental "Ape Thanks Lamb").

There's not much in the way of memorable melodies, but this is made up for by a poignant restraint and staid mood. The lyrics are vague and not so great by themselves, but work fine within the framework of the album. Which, I can't stress enough, is expertly honed and best listened to alone and with as little distraction as possible to really appreciate.

The last track, somewhat reminiscent of Illyah Kuryahkin's "What You Did Say," closes this set quite nicely, letting affecting string swells almost swallow up the guitar and vocals. It might've been more interesting if the strings completely ate up this track and coalesced for a lengthy Disintegration Loops-style finale, but instead it cuts out to allow the last measure or so to play unadorned.

This is an elegantly gloomy record. As there are no truly endearing tracks, perhaps it could've been considerably more rudderless. Thirty minutes is an odd length for something so vast-sounding. Yet, perhaps it's just as it should be. While you might, upon reflection, feel somewhat sunk, this vessel has a curious veneer wherein what appear to be leaks are actually spaces for the notes and tremors to settle in. And it's something indeed to make time stand still without needing to take up too much of it.

1. Puke a Pitch Black Rainbow to the Sun
2. Claimant Reclaimed
3. Our Cannon of Transposition
4. This One is Cursed
5. Grains
6. Lost In Forests
7. Ape Thanks Lamb
8. Oh Celebrate Your Vague Words and Coquettish Sovereignty
9. Vapour Steals the Glow