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"HiGH ▀ iNTELLiGeNCE tRoLLS"
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a r t i s t : Thee Shallows
t i t l e : A History of Sport Fishing
d a t e : 2002
l a b e l : Megalon
g e n r e : Lo-Fi
r l s. d a t e : Feb/2005
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 92,10 MB
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Note: Since the original release of this album, the band has
changed its name to "Thee More Shallows" due to legalities.
"Just when you think independent rock is a lost cause, some
unknown band makes an album like this one. Thee Shallows take
the middle of the night intimacy of Arab Strap and filter it
through the fragility of Neutral Milk Hotel to create music
that is powerful, yet so delicate that it seems to fall apart
in your head as whispered notes barely travel the space from
your speakers to your ears.
Everything here is over-ripe. Everything here resonates.
"Where are you now?" recounts a basement show where MC5 played
"Staying Alive" but those memories quickly turn into a
confessional on "the people you choose to leave." The music is
hushed and restrained, the soft whispered vocals clearly heard
over the Painful dirge.
These emotions are continued in "The 8th Ring of Hell," where
the singer finds himself unsure of whether to leave, admitting
"several times I've been driven to cheat" but knows he will
"miss your hands and your little feet." The great thing about
this song is how openly and directly it covers the emotions of
the cheater, the music echoing it with its uptempo nervous and
jittery pace. Here the wrong-doer is shown as being just as sad
and miserable as the one that was wronged.
The glimmering "I Do So Have a Sense of Humor" covers the
opposite end of breaking up. Phone calls from an ex-lover about
getting back together yet again bring about "I know you have a
big heart because it has space for all of the hearts that you
tear apart." The song starts off strong-willed, a five in the
morning sing-along recanting and mocking the proposition of
getting back together, however, the song then gets sappy and
sentimental as a juvenile keyboard melody and sweeping strings
take over the song and the mood.
"The Horizon is a Single Point" ends the album by slowing the
pace that much more dramatically, creating a Codeine-like drip.
The imagery indicates great despondency, but the song
transitions into a sad but determined four minute build that
grows more and more fluid, ending the song and the album with
the words "nothing's gonna bring me down."
These songs are great mellow, intimate rock, but to limit Thee
Shallows to just that description would be wrong. There is so
much going on in this recording. From the orchestral moments in
"Pulchritude," to the wolf howling that is worked into "The
CruXXX," to the woodwinds in "He Hate Me," to the math-y
interjections in "The Perfect Map" the album is richly
detailed, showing great care and skill towards song- and
sound-craft, not just emotion.
"Pulchritude," which I'm pretty sure means "Oh Comely" in
American, shows just how skilled the band is, as they are more
able to pull off being a chamber orchestra in these
two-and-a-half minutes than all the other bands who spend their
whole practices aspiring to be a chamber orchestra.
Thee More Shallows remind me a lot of (recently departed and
dismantled) fellow San Francisco band Fuck. Both are comparable
to Yo La Tengo, but both are more mellow and intimate, making
the comparison more of a lazy starting point than a full
description. Only, compared to the F-word band, the emotion
here seems more direct and real, and the music seems more
organic and dramatic. Simply an awestriking debut... one of
those albums that is very hard to write about because when you
listen to it, all you want to do is listen to it.
To quote the band: "I think we found the perfect map to the
song in your head before they announced you dead." And how."
- Jim Steed (www.fakejazz.com)
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01-Where Are You Now [04:16]
02-The 8th Ring of Hell [06:29]
03-Pulchritude [02:36]
04-A History of Sport Fishing [07:00]
05-The CruXXX [04:22]
06-Ballad of Douglas Chin [03:59]
07-Aerodrome [03:38]
08-I Do So Have a Sense of Humor [06:15]
09-The Perfect Map [08:03]
10-He Hate Me [03:38]
11-The Horizon is a Single Point [06:37]
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56:53 min
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