ARTIST: These United States
TITLE: A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate...
LABEL: Self Released
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 167kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 35m total
RELEASE DATE: 2008-03-04
RIP DATE: 2008-02-13
Track List
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1. Preface: Painless 1:50
2. First Sight 3:01
3. Kings & Aces 3:05
4. The Business 2:57
5. Jenni Anne 2:46
6. Diving Boards Pointed at the 3:32
Sky
7. Burn This Bridge 3:22
8. Sun is Below & Above 2:35
9. Remember Dear 1:39
10. Slow Crows Over 2:59
11. So High So Low So Wide So Long 3:08
12. Only The Lonely Devil Knows 4:35
Release Notes:
Free-wheeling DC psych-folk collective These United States will release its
debut album, A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden, via
United Interests, on March 4th. With 300+ shows across the U.S. and Europe in
the two short years since its formation, These United States has emerged a
wide-eyed amalgamation of intricately layered lit-pop and the punk rock ethic, a
band of merry pranksters led by Jesse Elliott, spinning something fiercely,
unapologetically positive out of the sinking reality of an empire gone Titanic.
For his projectÆs debut release, Elliott called on an old friend, David
Strackany û known to the music world as Paleo, author and sole executor of last
yearÆs remarkable Song Diary (365 songs in 365 days, what Paste magazine called
ôa streetfight of freakish prolificacyö). The result of the collaboration is a
36-minute allegorical whirlwind through time, space, and sound û think Paul
Simon narrating an Andrew Bird master-minded break-in of BowieÆs near-infinite
Labyrinth. Between them, Elliott and Strackany roped in upwards of 30 DC- and
Midwest-based musicians, and the mixing prowess of District stalwarts Chad Clark
(Beauty Pill, Smart Went Crazy, producer for Fugazi, Dismemberment Plan) and
T.J. Lipple (Aloha).
ôPreface: Painless,ö the first track on A Picture of the Three of Us, sets out
sailing on a single word, follows it immediately with one mysterious sound û
which re-surfaces in waves and dreams throughout the album û and then settles
down into the confident core that carries the album: uncommonly ambitious
storytelling floating on a sea of masterfully subtle layered production. Indeed,
PaleoÆs ôcollageö technique borrows as much from African dub and impressionistic
painting as from any tricks currently used in the new-folk universe. This
approach is in full evidence on ôFirst Sight,ö a pulsing organic
near-electronica word-torrent that shoots for the ever-thumping heart of Love,
as seen from the first human beings on earth to the last. From underneath
ElliottÆs breathlessly exuberant vocal delivery, Paleo builds track after track
of sound, in effect sampling all of TheseUSÆs own live instruments and
performances, without a fixed idea of where in a song û or even in the album as
a whole û they should eventually end up. As layer after layer is painted on and
then stripped away, faded up here and back down there, entire microscopic
communities of sound gurgle up and die back down û the Petri dish conjures
Casios and hi-hats only to have Saadat AwanÆs tabla flourish triumph at the
climaxàand then be overtaken again by the human voice in the songÆs denouement.
On ôKings & Aces,ö weÆre beckoned by a single French horn into ElliottÆs deep
dark childhood nightmare imagination, and we look on as the narrator comes of
age within seconds, wanders further into the woods, stumbles somehow into a
clearing, back again, forth again, all as the tangles of the forestÆs avian
siren eventually wrap him tight round the knees and the undergrowth overcomes.
Ah, youth. ItÆs there again in ôThe Business,ö an overjoyed ode to sweet
resignation, living to work, and working to love in the modern white-collar
world.
From there, the album grows both down into the soil and upwards into the air,
ebbing and flowing an oceanÆs worth in an incredibly short time. The Velvet
Underground influenced ôJenni Anneö give way to the psychedelic piano lullaby
ôDiving Boards Pointed at the Sky.ö ôBurn This Bridgeö could almost be mistaken
for a saloon sing-along, were it not for the tribal and trembling undertones of
its low tom and lyrics. ôSun Is Below & Aboveö serves as perhaps the most
ethereal of all the tracks, a Paleo production highlight if ever there was one
(and there are many). ôRemember Dearö and ôSlow Crows Overö bring the tide and
tempo back up, chasing ElliottÆs deft wordplay and rambunctious vocals as they
sprint out through fields of cello, accordion, glockenspiel, mandolin, and even
the underbelly o