Piano Creeps (2002)
7.5
E Guitar / Turtle Song / Dig a Hole / Newfield Baptist Church
/ Che / World's Fair / See the Stars / Piano Creeps / Old Man Dance
/ Near End Theme / Americana #1 / Joe's House
In
the nineties, Lorson and Coté got a brief taste of success while they were
in Madder Rose, an alt-pop band that released four albums to generally enthusiastic
responses, but then the band suddenly disappeared as fast as it had been there.
Lorson created the more experimental Saint Low, which is still around (unless
I'm wrong) and has released two albums. In the meantime, she and Coté also
started with creating moody instrumental music, some of which was used to
score thesis films (one being an Academy Award winner) and documentaries.
Piano Creeps collects twelve cuts that were recorded between 2000 and
2002. If there's anything that connects these songs - apart from the fact
that most of 'em are completely instrumental - it's that they're all pretty
low key and mysterious, preferring suggestion over immediately striking ideas.
As such, it's not an album that'll give you a WOW-sensation, but there
are moments of simmering beauty that stand on their own, despite an avalanche
of similar material that reaches our shores each year. Lorson and Coté provide
the foundation of all these songs with guitar, bass, piano, drums and an array
of 70's keyboards. Opener "E String," for instance is basically nothing but
a delicate, shimmering guitar set to a dragging drum rhythm and eerie sounds.
Some of the songs are more fleshed out or delivered in such a way that they're
more likely to conjure up images with layers of Moog, Rhodes and beats, like
in the trip-hop-styled "Dig a Hole," which isn't that far removed from Portishead-territory
(or Hooverphonic, if you're acquainted with them) with Lorson's elliptic vocals
and a yearning violin adding a melancholy tone. Other songs are basically
snippets of acoustic ambient music: "Newfield Baptist Church" and "Old Man
Dance," for instance, are fragile mergers of piano and violin (exquisitely
played by Joe Myer), while "World's Fair" comes off as a less idiosyncratic
take on Lambchop's lounge-country. Still, despite their skill at the atmospheric
stuff, the album's best moments arrive when Lorson uses the deliciously ethereal
quality of her voice: "See the Stars" is the album's most fully-realized song
(well, of course, it wasn't the intention in the case of most other songs),
bridging the gap between ambient, shoegazer pop and a hesitantly danceable
Stereolab-similarity; while her self-penned "Americana #1" is an elusive lullaby
that defies description altogether. Not all the material is as memorable,
as some of the songs could've done with less abstract arrangements and melodies,
but hey, this was never intended as a hook-heavy pop album. Instead, you get
a 50-minute sonic delight that hovers between eerie soundscapes and occasionally
a subtly addictive hypnotic song that allows you to create your own images
to befit the songs. Piano Creeps isn't particularly innovative, nor
is it a baffling eye-opener, but it's a fine album made by people who understand
their craft and have the guts to break with the past (or shift into something
else) with class. Plus, the fact that Lorson's been working with artists like
Kurt Wagner, Robert Fisher's Willard Grant Conspiracy, The Walkabouts, Jennie
Stearns and Hubcap implies her talents are also recognized by her colleagues,
as they should be. And the same goes for Coté!
Read album reviews of similar or related artists: Hubcap - Johnny Dowd