Seekonk
http://www.seekonkmusic.com

styles: folk, chamber pop, bossanova, soft rock, country, indie rock
others: Boduf Songs, Espers, Brightblack, Songs of Green Pheasant

Pinkwood
North East Indie, 2006
rating: 4/5
reviewer: willcoma

Ewww. Not that word. Yuck, yick, and patooie on "love." We're talking mutual gratification buzzes, and all there is to that is personalities in constant danger of being/not being compromised. So blecch, I say. Blecch you very much, Seekonk. And yet, what a great ethered little gem your gentle love song opener is! As a professional critic, I'm obliged to impart this truth: I'm in love with it. Because these inanimate objects called songs are much more dependably loving - just so long as you don't associate it with that certain somebody. When I hear the singer softly intone that he's "in love," I can only hope he's talking about the beautifully hushed sounds he and his bandmates are billowing out. Because, ideally, being in love is faceless and lustless. It should work as though the struggle is ended and your nagging vexation is melting into a weightless sense of wonder. Kind of like the feeling Pinkwood is instilling in me as I listen. A feeling that 'right now' is all there is - and nuts to you if you want to dispel this contentment as mere Van Halen philosophy 101.

Seekonk do have a melancholic edge, but it's that Built to Spill sort that is as bracing as it is perhaps maudlin. The more up-tempo "Mar" almost approaches Interpol with whispered female vocals, as it rides its galloping horse of infinite tenseness. But whatever the tempo, this LP is pretty low-key and low-key pretty. The vocals are very well-executed, even on "Orange and Blue," when singer Sarah Ramey belts out a clear croon for the chorus. It's a little off-putting at first, but then you are become somewhat taken with the singer's bold stepping out of the low-key whisper-sing. It's just restrained enough to be more of a nice shift than an unpleasant distraction for the release. In fact, what seems to be Pinkwood's greatest strength is having eight standard-length tracks with a nice variety of feels. At the start, you're getting that Iron & Wine-like dusty mellow folk feel, then by the end you're in Sam Prekop-ish lounge land, flutes, horns, and all. It's just so short and so sweet that you'll likely be unsatisfied with one run-through at a sitting.

Musically, "Take My Wife" reminds me of the opener to Neko Case's Blacklisted, with its quickstep, loping Bad Seeds progression. What seems to separate this band from fellow soft rock dynamos Brightblack is the lack of a consistent, signature sound. In this case, though, sheer originality doesn't seem to matter much. What I hear are five individuals who are truly masterful at subtle songcraft - who know how to build up a loving, nurturing bevy of sounds to soothe your savage beast till its claws retract to the elbows. They've made a beautiful album here, and if you're not completely in love with it by the irresistibly lush third track, you will be by the end. And if you still aren't, well, I guess you can just stick with your "significant other" and all the miserable crap that comes with it. Pinkwood, despite its oddly sexual title, is a chaste, rapturous love affair with all of the potential fulfillment and intricate dimension and none of the mess.

1. Love
2. Armstrong
3. Air
4. Powerout
5. Mar
6. Take My Wife
7. Orange & Blue
8. The Great Compromise