Spires That in the Sunset Rise - Curse the Traced Bird (Dig)
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Artist: Spires That in the Sunset RiseEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2008-02-26
Music Label: Secret Eye Records
Soundtracks:
- Black Earth
- Java Pop
- Party Favors
- Equus Haar
- Underscore
- Red Fall
- Pouring Mind
Free Music Notes for Curse the Traced Bird (Dig)
Free Music Review: Despite personal problems, this is no sellout: indeed it is less accessible
Hit: 5 Stars
After having released two of the most original and stunning albums of the recently finished decade of the 2000s in Four Winds the Walker and This Is Fire, Spires That in the Sunset Rise began to suffer from major personal problems. Tracy Peterson, who had not played on their almost-as-brilliant self-titled album, left the band, whilst Georgia Vallas separated from Kathleen Baird and Taralie Peterson, still remaining in Chicago hometown as the other two women moved to Madison, Wisconsin. On "Curse the Traced Bird", the Spires also used outside musicians for the first time in Greg Weeks of Espers, who helped produce and played many of the instruments.
All this might give the impression that the Spires are completely losing the mysterious, almost magical passion that had made for a trilogy of masterful albums earlier in the decade. It is true that "Curse the Traced Bird" does not have the dense rhythms that made "Four Winds the Walker" and "This is Fire" so brilliant, nor the amazing spontaneity of the first side of their debut album. Nonetheless, "Curse the Traced Bird" is actually even more austere and passionate than their previous two albums, and equally earthy and mystical. Opening track "Black Earth" is as stunning as the group's first track "I Am Sewn", with the dense acoustic instruments not resembling progressive rock as they did on their previous album, but instead truly making for a quite unique form of folk music with acoustic instruments, as always with Spires that in the Sunset Rise, played in the most unique, passionate manner. The vocals, though, are stately in a manner even their greatest masterpiece "Wide Awake" could never come close to and this further adds to the ecological theme of the song.
Second track "Java Pop" (from which the album title comes) was influenced, as its title suggests, by Indonesian gamelan music, is similarly acoustic yet fiery, whilst the nine-minute epic "Party Favours" is the most complex piece on the album and shows how yet again, even in so austere an atmosphere, Spires That in the Sunset Rise retained their ability to produce exceptionally complex yet emotional music with a simple base and eerie vocals. The lyrics add to the sense of mystery very well, being as so often about complex relationships. This is backed up on "Equus Haar" with some beats that sound almost synthesised but are truly from acoustic instruments, and a rhythm that rediscovers the band's amazing skill at imitating on record ancient mystical dances with nature like no other group. The way they play really does testify the claim that "you're either a north wind, south wind, east wind or west wind". More than that, the dynamics remain stunning at around the two-minute mark of the song.
"Underscore" is similarly harsh, whilst the dynamics of "Red Fall" set the Spires apart from more ordinary folk bands so clearly. The way in which they describe an environmental catastrophe so well Even the sound of rubbing (like Can's "Future Days" on closer "Pouring Mind" is far from unpleasant if disappointing in comparison to what had come before.
All in all, Spires That in the Sunset Rise fans should not be disappointed by "Curse the Traced Bird" despite the personnel problems experienced. In fact, its slow-moving, austere character is much less accessible than "Four Winds the Walker" and the lyrics, even if not revealed, are focused just as effectively on the same themes.
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