Record number two from these modern post rockers, whose first lp on Mexican Summer was a big hit around here, and whose sound continues to explore similar sonic territory, meandery and melodic, spidery guitars, intricate interwoven melodies, subtly complex rhythms, washed out ethereal vox, reverbed and drifty and abstract, the sound is jazzy and spacey, a bit new agey here and there, very krautrock, all deftly woven into a sort of post Tortoise post rock drift.
Occasionally squalls of distorted guitar erupt, and the songs are laced with subtle sonic intricacies, swooping backwards rhythms, electronic bits, programmed beats, swirly effects, even some samples here and there, but the core of Woodsman's sound melodic and rhythmic, the players unfurling totally hypnotic jams, lushly textured, and yet still strangely catchy. The A-side closer is some totally blissed out krautdrone space rock, sounding almost like a mellower Circle, or pre-psych-blow-out White Hills, subtly druggy and trippy, but totally mesmerizing and hypnotic. And as if to drive that point home, turn the record over and dive into the sidelong "Smells Like Purple", way more loose and jammy, epic and sprawling, a total space trip head nod blow out, the drums motorik, the guitars distorted but still melodic, the whole track growing gradually spacier and spacier, until the song reaches an almost stasis, only to build it right back up again, the drums getting more and more busy and propulsive, the guitars more dense and layered, the sound shoegazey and dreamlike and totally psychedelic.
A Danish prog / power metal band named for Emily Bronte's classic gothic novel? Scoff if you must, but much like their last record The Shadow Cabinet, Salt is another classic chunk of over the top, epic, folk-flecked power metal. As we've mentioned before, the true test of a record is the 'why do you like it' test, where when you hear a song, or a record, without any knowledge of who it is, and thus no preconceived notions, you're forced to decide based simply on the sounds. Which is why at aQ, if we ever ask another employee what's playing, we can expect the response 'Why? Do you like it?' Which has most definitely resulted in someone claiming that yes, they do indeed like something, only to discover, that it was something they hated, or at least thought they hated.
Well, one of us was in a record store in another country, and Wuthering Heights was playing, the whole record, and it was incredible, enough that it was quickly purchased, and then obsessed over, which also meant returning home and buying EVERY record these guys ever made.
So we were pretty thrilled to discover a brand new Wuthering Heights, and we're happy to report it's just as great, bombastic, epic, majestic, over the top, like power metal should be. But Wuthering Heights definitely do their own thing, sure there's nimble super technical leads, wild rapidfire chugging guitars, soaring super dramatic Iron Maiden style vocals, but WH slip into strange folky breakdowns, breakdowns that often continue right on into the heavy bits, resulting in blasting portions of heaviness, that almost sound like super charged folk music, or death metal jigs or black metal polka... As if that weren't enough, they're also super proggy, with tons of parts, complicated arrangements, and they do all this while crafting super catchy songs. Obviously if you're into groups like Lost Horizon, Blind Guardian, Hammerfall, and other power metal purveyors, then this is right up your alley, but if you're into classic metal, epic and heavy, with killer vox and lots of solos, this might be worth checking out. And again, for power metal, this stuff is pretty weird, and thus we find ourselves digging this big time!
Jason Zumpano is perhaps most notable as the drummer and unmistakable namesake behind one of aQ's top pop faves of all time, Zumpano! Yeah, you've prolly heard us go off more that a few times gushing about the glorious pop greatness of that early '90s band, and pining for a reissue of their two albums. As many well know, their frontman Carl Newman went on to head the mighty New Pornographers. The rest of the band members moved on to more low key projects and lives. Mr. Zumpano for one has been keeping plenty busy with his piano'n'pop combo Sparrow as well as Attics And Cellars, Destroyer, and Loscil. Of course, aQ followers are probably already very acquainted with the latter two! Indeed, the Vancouver indie music scene remains very close knit even this many years down the line, playing together in a wide array of musical collaborations such as this one. Room And Mansion pairs Jason Zumpano's solo instrumental originals with the drawings of Ms Sydney Vermont (aka Mr Daniel Bejar's better half and partner in Hello Blue Roses). Zumpano's quite light on his fingers, gracefully weaving these lithe compositions of primarily piano with some cello and percussion embellishment. A lovely musical counterpart to Vermont's delicate color splashed, blue ink sketched figures. Limited edition of 150. Each copy includes two giclee prints.
