| | Reviewed for The Chicago Sun-Times.
The Horse’s Ha, “Of the Cathmawr Yards,” (Hidden Agenda)
****
Chicago lost a musical treasure when the Zincs disbanded in 2008. The group’s 2007 album “Black Pompadour” fused influences including Television, afro-pop and the Smiths while attaining top marks on several year-end lists. Save your tears, though. Apparently, Jim Elkington had new challenges in mind.
The British expatriate’s resonant baritone and dry delivery most closely mirror his Zincs effort with the cool jazz and self-depricating prose of “Left Hand.” “A pox on this man let down by his own left hand,” croons Elkington, joined by bandmate and Eleventh Dream Day veteran Janet Beveridge Bean. The rumble and buzz of Nick Macri’s upright bass and a downcast trumpet solo worthy of Burt Bacharach (courtesy of Calexico’s Martin Wenk) transport listeners to the corner booth of a dimly lit cocktail bar.
The album’s moonlit blend of acoustic sounds is slow and sophisticated, though improvisational cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm creaks and groans his way through a rollicking story of mother nature’s revenge called “The Piss Choir.” The undulating rhythm of “Map of Stars” also throws off sparks.
If there’s a secret ingredient to the band’s recipe, it’s Charles Rumback’s drumming, influenced more by post-bop greats like Elvin Jones than anyone on today’s indie-rock scene. Rumback’s brushed snare and clattering fills during “Asleep in a Waterfall” combine with Macri’s bass and Elkington’s tumbling guitar to suggest a steam locomotive struggling uphill with a wheel missing. Bean sings about a shipwrecked diva who digs her own grave, spinning a sense of eerie beauty.
- Jeff Elbel |
| | Posted 7/5/2009 1:43 AM - 8 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
