2012 Records I still regularly listen to in no particular order:
The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter
Ben Folds Five - The Sound of the Life of the Mind
Kate Miller-Heidke - Nightflight
Dr. Dog - Be the Void
Jukebox the Ghost - Safe Travels
Ryan Lerman - Pinstripes, the Sky
The Mountain Goats - Transcendental Youth
Now, Now - Threads
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Regina Spektor - What We Saw from the Cheap Seats
Andrew Bird - Break it Yourself
Jenny Owen Youngs - An Unwavering Band of Light
AND my best of from 2012, is still one of my favorite records of all time. It got upgraded in the last year to all time from year. Unfortunately, it's a record the average person won't have heard. A true shame, and a record I suggest to anyone and everyone that will listen.
The Old Ceremony - Fairytales and Other Forms of Suicide
Buy here from Yep Roc (Digital, CD, and Vinyl)
“What makes a man but tiny little spirals.” The first line on album opener “Star By Star” lets the listener know that Django Haskins is yet again going to verbalize things in his unique way. The man is one of the best lyricists I know. Thinks about things differently, he uses a higher level of vocabulary. It also certainly helps that the timbre of his voice is incredibly soothing. Even when he gets his yell on later on the title track. One thing that needs to be said aloud right now; on a whole the musicality of this record is the band’s best to date. I don’t know if it’s actually a better production level or what, but it sounds like the band is really hitting their stride and I am happy that the band is finally on a record label that’s able to give them nationwide publicity. Yep Roc, also home of Jukebox the Ghost, should prove to be a great partnership for Chapel Hill’s The Old Ceremony. It should mean more national touring, and I’m always happy to see the record promoted on Yep Roc email blasts.
Back to the album. This band uses a lot of "non-traditional rock band" sounds. They travel with a vibraphone, which Mark Simonsen is always excellent on, as well as his keys. Gabriele Pelli plays a fantastic violin, and occasional various guitar duties, and an occasional banjo here and there. Dan Hall and Jeff Crawford keep the beat going on drums and bass respectively. “Elsinore” the albums’ second track, may perhaps be my favorite song off the record. Django’s voice is perfectly soothing through the entire track. It starts with just the vocal and an acoustic guitar and slowly builds up, light drumming joins in, then the keys and violin, halfway through they add in a banjo (and we know how I feel about that instrument). Just as the track builds they strip it right back down to how it began. Everything has the space it needs to breathe properly, fantastic dynamics. The lyrics and vocal really shine, but so does the violin, so does the keys, everything in its place, as it should be. It is a perfectly crafted song. There is just something about the way Django sings the word Elsinore is indescribable.
Following track “Fairytales and Other Forms of Suicide” kicks the momentum of the album up a notch. Electric guitar and those aforementioned yells on Django’s part. It makes for a fun song while the album switches gears for a bit. “Sink or Swim” is a political statement on the bands’ part. Satirical lyrics written from the Self-Important-Self-Righteous-Conservative position. “Now I was never black myself, but I feel pain, and I’m gonna give you some advice about making something of your life. You know it’s sink or swim, you’ve got a choice to make my friend, cause god bless the child, but if it ain’t blessed, it better learn to sink or swim.” A song, with an accompanying video that have meaning, but keep the tone playful enough that I doubt everyone hearing it even really knows what’s going on. “Day that I was Born” takes it back down tempo wise, and features a lower register in the vocals and one of my favorite violin parts on the entire record. This track is also a great example of Django’s poetic sense, pun not intended (you'll see); “I can almost smell your hair tonight/ the hypnotic poisonous dandelion/ I watered and set you out in the sun/ but you closed your petals to everyone….. ‘Cause you knew the poetry/ I just knew the poem/ You woke up next to me/ The day that I was Born.” The entire track is more of the same.
The next track “Beebe Arkansas” has one of the album’s greatest intros. Great build. Harmonies, female ones at that! “The Royal We” has a real peppy beat; the drums really drive the track. “The royal We is hardly ever known to think of you.” Django also has a great vocal part here; the intonation in his voice is distinct on the record even. “Catbird Blues” really slows down; this pop-noir band has a song for each mood on the record. Placing one of the albums slowest right before one of the peppiest songs on the record “Middle Child.” “Middle Child” Django tells the story I have lived with a middle child for a sister. Here they use some reverb, great vocal effect. It echoes really well. There is a great instrumental break down lead by Django’s electric guitar. Propelled by Dan’s drums, the other various noises going on in the background, some undeterminable lyrics, and the band is just jamming. The song is sure to get itself wedged in your head.
The album’s closer “Feet Touch the Ground” starts with the vibraphone and it ends the album on a soaring note. The lyrics are just as fantastic as anything else on the record; “But sooner or later we’ll find that the air’s too thin for us, like an old satellite on its final go round, we will burn through the sky, moving faster than sound, will we land in the sea? Or on to a house? Where a family sleeps? Unsafe. Unsound.” There are more backup vocals here, and more projection on the vocals, more perfectly inflected words, more beautiful violin, more great drumming, guitar playing, and bass line that keeps the song all tied together nicely. More of everything, yet perfectly constructed that everything, once again, is right as it should be. The only bad thing happening here is that the album is ending.
Fairytales and Other Forms of Suicide is a cohesive record from start to finish, also showing great promise for the band to come. I've seen photos popping up online that the band is back in the studio, I am intrigued to see what comes out of this band next with label support and a wider market. I have high expectations.
Check this blog out throughout December for 2013 album reviews like this one. Always open to album suggestions. I am not paid by any label or artists to review their records, this is all just my opinion. Feel free to disagree, but always be respectful!
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