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▀███▄ Norfolk And Western - If You Were Born Overseas ▄███▀
artist : Norfolk And Western
title : If You Were Born Overseas
date : 2005
label : Self Released
genre : Folk
rls. date : Jan-20-2006
tracks : 12
bitrate : VBRkbps
size : 51,5 MB
Not sure if Norfolk & Western frontman Adam Selzer's
Thomas Hobbes references ("We were both reading Leviathan/
Not necessarily your best seller") signify any more than
some shared cross-cafΘ literacy, but it's probable. In its
seven-year run, the band appears to have drawn up a
commonwealth-through-social-contract type deal: Selzer's
the sovereign, and citizens suspend sleepiness in exchange
for the loveliest of songs, both gorgeous and soporific.
Earlier albums (Dusk in Cold Parlours, in particular) were
lulling and understated-- they portended great things, but
lacked immediacy: If Selzer would swap reservation for
liberties maybe he'd be onto something.
N&W now outdo themselves effortlessly-- maybe
inadvertently-- with the tour-only If You Were Born
Overseas (originally sold on recent treks with M. Ward,
the CD is now available on N&W's website). "The Shortest
Stare" uncannily channels the Decemberists: Selzer croons
unlike Dean Wareham, for once, and sounds as nose-jammed
as Colin Meloy, as assured as Mark Kozelek. It's not any
less authentic than usual, though, and the likeness makes
sense: multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Rachel Blumberg
is sometimes-drummer for the Decemberists, Selzer plays
bass for M. Ward, and though the album's nothing exotic,
it's still beautiful in its traditional grounding
(itinerancy, rather). Norfolk & Western's tradition is in
railroad tracks, Adam Selzer's great-grandpa, Adam Selzer,
was the first conductor of coal trains across Virginia.
Selzer and Blumberg deny themselves standard vehicular
luxuries of modern transport, and insist on touring
exclusively by train. Only so much shit can go down on
trains, but Norfolk & Western's progressed from busted,
kinda-boring boxcar moods to forward locomotion-- pushing
their hallmark folksy envelope to span wider, with
Overseas waxing and waning but mostly waxing poetical--
sometimes a stalled Polar Express shipping kids to snowier
places, and others the jaunty engines to Anywhere, U.S.A.;
they could've easily run out of steam, but pick it up
instead: Even songs that don't fall far from the tree of
previous work still move charmingly. "She Won't Be Famous"
accrues strings and drums in a simple, perfect crux of
resignation; a girl who's "timid and shy, doesn't try"
only lets a privileged few hear her songs, but when Selzer
eavesdrops ("On Sunday morning, I hear through the walls/
the prettiest voice"), it's bliss, more or less. Spotted
with songs like these (see also "Porch Destination"),
Overseas moves beautifully-- the voices of Blumberg and
Selzer fit as perfect as usual-- but still stalls too
often. Cinched tighter, their forthcoming A Gilded Age EP
(which will include different versions of Overseas tracks,
and others) seems terribly promising.
01-The Shortest Stare [04:53]
02-From The Interests Of Few [03:19]
03-A Gilded Age [03:46]
04-Et Le Reve Fraichit [01:36]
05-Edison [03:54]
06-She Won't Be Famous [03:37]
07-Banish All Rock [03:36]
08-Song For A Shtetl [00:55]
09-Porch Destruction [04:07]
10-West Destination [02:23]
11-Day One [02:55]
12-You Can Always Return [03:03]
───────
38:04 min
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