Artist: The Silent League
Title: But You've Always Been The Caretaker
Label: Something In Construction
Genre: Indie
Bitrate: 180kbit av.
Time: 01:32:41
Size: 126.45 mb
Rip Date: 2009-12-01
Str Date: 2010-01-27
DISC 1:
01. Egg Shaped 1:00
02. When Stars Attack!!! 4:56
03. Yours Truly, 2095 3:13
04. Little I 2:53
05. There's A Caretaker In The Woods 4:23
06. Sleeper 1:37
07. Here's A Star 4:11
08. Day Planner 2:51
09. The Ohio Winter Conventioners 3:58
10. Rules Of Disengagement 4:04
11. I Go 2:37
12. But You've Always Been The Pilot 1:39
13. Resignation Studies 2:56
14. Final Chapter Meeting 5:38
15. How And Why Our Dads Lost The War 2:48
DISC 2:
01. Here's A Star (Neon Indian Remix) 5:29
02. Dayplanner (Instrumental) 2:45
03. Kings And Queens (In-Studio Version) 3:04
04. Can't Get It Out Of My Head (ELO Cover) 4:29
05. Final Chapter Meeting (Instrumental) 5:34
06. Here's A Star (Prequel Remix) 4:26
07. Here's A Star (Helado Negro Remix) 5:00
08. No One (Alicia Keys Cover) 4:06
09. Let It Roll (Live) 5:25
10. Time (Live) 3:39
Release Notes:
With the New York tag, normally comes visions of black leather jackets
and black skinny jeans; trend-setters abandoning guitars for synths in
a quest for cool. Sidestepping this assembled throng of scene chasers,
Brooklyn based The Silent League have their hearts in an entirely
different New York; a musically historic up-state New York: the
Catskill Mountains. Spiritual home to The Band and name checked by the
likes of Beck and Mercury Rev.
Over the last five years, the collective ù lead by Justin Russo, who at
the time of the bandÆs formation was playing keyboards for Mercury Rev
ù has been periodically forming, releasing records (their second, Of
Stars and Other Somebodies, never receiving a release in North
America), playing a few shows and then disappearing again. Over the
years the band has been made up of a varying cast including members of
Interpol, Arcade Fire, Beirut, St. Vincent, Stars Like Fleas and Bishop
Allen. In its current incarnation the band has Shannon Fields on board
as producer and performer to help create a record of perfectly executed
soft-pop gems.
Sonically, But YouÆve Always Been The Caretaker (the bandÆs third long
player) sits alongside the likes of Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips;
across its 15 tracks its glides effortlessly on with a confident grace,
punctuated by a series of shorter musical vignettes (ÆEgg-shapedÆ,
æSleeperÆ, æBut YouÆve Always Been The PilotÆ, æHow And Why Our Dads
Lost The WarÆ).
A collection of middle-tempo, grand, orchestral numbers make up the
bulk of the album, each one drawing in the listener with an of opening
of delicate pianos and fragile vocals before a raft of brass, strings,
guitars and all manner of synthesizers enter the fold creating blankets
of comforting, lush, space-rock. And thatÆs the musical theme that
permeates the record; explicitly on the so-ELO-it-hurts æYours Truly,
2095? (öMaybe some day IÆll feel her cold embrace / IÆll kiss her
interfaceö), with nods to Ziggy-era Bowie on æHereÆs A StarÆ, and on
æDayplannerÆ, which with its pedal steel, squelching synths and
saxophone solo, could easily have been lifted from Dark Side Of The
Moon.
On penultimate track æFinal Chapter MeetingÆ, Jean-Michel Jarre bleeps
and pieces dance around a foreboding vocal: ôSounds like plague / seems
like everybodyÆs got somethingö. The track builds to a four bar
repetition, every cycle bringing new elements: a chorus of vocal
euphoria, walls of distorted guitar punctuate the bottom, while a group
of horns play over and over until they lose control.
To think that The Silent League are an on again/off again collective is
beguiling when the output is this accomplished. What they present here
is an album of such accomplished majesty and width, unashamedly nodding
to its influences that stands shoulder to shoulder with any
contemporary comparisons. This is hairs on the back of your neck stuff.
Deluxe edition including a bonus cd of great extra tracks. Enjoy!
sire@hush.ai