Pigeons - SI Faustine

Pigeons
Si Faustine
(2010, Olde English Spelling Bee)
RIYL = Broadcast, Forest Swords, Green Gerry

Olde English Spelling Bee is cranking it up a notch this year, delivering heavy on the serpentine murk. They already dropped that illustrious Forest Swords LP, and the new Julian Lynch is psych-pop wonderful, and this…this. Following their namesake, Pigeons are beautifully feathered and dirty. A lilting flutter of female vocals twisting and harmonizing up towards the clouds, occasionally taking roost upon mucky windowsills and oily industrial silos. That’s where Pigeons fly. Si Faustine, the group’s debut (I think? Lazy), is a sort of psych-folk animal, not necessarily a carnivore, but certainly untamed, free roaming entity with a heartbeat and a collapsed lung. Si Faustine carries pastoral guitars in one moment, like an animal caught in the frame of a National Geographic camera lens, and off into caterwauling horned dirges, digging through an alley dumpster the next. Though, still, everything is framed artistically, gorgeous in its white, black and brown hues. Oh, and red. This has been one of the biggest surprises for me this year. So much depth and diversity twisted up in a praline dropped on the ground and dusted off. It’s too good not to devour again and again.

-Thistle

Forest Swords - Dagger Paths

Forest Swords
Dagger Paths
(2010, Olde English Spelling Bee)
RIYL = Gang Gang Dance, Talk Talk/Portishead trudging through a backwater swamp

The tonal ecstasy of Forest Swords debut LP, Dagger Paths, is elusive. I missed it on my first listen by too quickly assuming Forest Swords to be another in the constant strain of weirdo noise-drone-krautrock that seems to have potential but then ends up going nowhere. I don’t want you to make the same mistake. Forest Swords is different. Dagger Paths isn’t some random collection of drugged-out improvisations, its heavy mood is achieved through careful layering and structured arcs. Dagger Paths is beguiling in the way in which it causes you to let your guard down. The music’s heavy, luxurious tones sink you into the ground before you know what’s become of your body from the neck down. The album requires (and deserves) your attention, meandering languorously in mid-ankle muck and grime. Some damp forest. The lounging low end bass, and jangling loops are a front. You feel isolated, but the reality is you’re surrounded by natives, their pulsing drums, and they want your skull. Forest Swords is deadly efficient and muggy blissful. A seriously wonderful, lurking record that adds hints of dub into the world of psych noise with amazingly satisfying results. So good.

-Thistle