Summer is here, the uni is on break, I have no commute to work, few errands to be running, and instead much that needs attention at home, so albums don't get heard. A song here and there, sure—usually one of Ragnar's, or else my own, as I tinker with new stuff. But the kind of space that I prefer, or practically require, for full album listens, won't be available again until the start of the new term in the final days of August. My six listens to Act I have been spread very widely far apart, weeks between them. It has helped the songs sink in, that's for sure. But the listening was done in stolen... if not moments, well then, stolen 40-minute chunks, without much chance to keep a running commentary going. We've had more chances to talk about the album over the phone than I've had to write about it. So this'll be a short one.
In any case, it's great stuff, nonstop great stuff! Musically, each of the eight songs is a treat. I love that five of them pass the six-minute mark. The arrangements are rocked-out and colorful, elaborate but with a raw edge. There are a lot of catchy, happily lingering vocal melodies ("sing softly! bring me to the lake!"). I love that the album has room for an a capella overture (Battesimo del Fuoco), a superbly catchy instrumental that could soundtrack FF9 (The Lake South), a soft and modest but still beautiful instrumental (The River North), punkish folk-rock (City Escape), a bit of villainesque jazzy sleaze (The Pimp and the Priest), and the kind of full-on folk-rock that seems to drip liquid gold (His Hands Matched His Tongue). Casey's singing is such a pleasure: versatile, strong, emotive, with a unique timber.
No individual instruments stood out to me—actually, now that I check, I see that almost everything was played by Casey himself, which figures, because unless you're Tom Kovacevic or Paul McCartney, the one-musician-band approach usually means there won't be much that stands out, necessarily. But you will get a good, clear picture of what's going on in the writer's head and imagination, since they are the one solely (or, in this case, in all but drums) responsible for how each element ends up sounding.
Lyrics, then. Before looking them up and reading them, I was able to tell, based on the background you provided me with, that a lot of the album is about the main character's mother: there's a lot on that classically exploited 19th-century theme of prostitution, and, it seemed to me, a lot about the "city escape" into the woods where her son is born. "Places, people, the stage is set," as sung in City Escape, seems to be the central conceit. The river as the border between the City and the Wilderness, maybe? The Lake as a refuge, sought and found.
Having read the words, it's like you say: very little is illuminated! Casey's lyrical style here is a kind that I don't dislike but can't appreciate much either: it's too elusive, but not elusive in a way that makes me want to relisten and reread until I figure something out; it's the kind that gets me thinking, "Well, all right, I guess the songwriter knows what he means," and leaving it at that. There's a touch of the literary, in that Casey likes latinate words ("release this serendipitious design," "belated conversations saturate anticipation," and so on, tiptoeing toward Death Metal English), but the words don't seem to be honed enough to earn the epithet "poetic." Concrete enough for it to be obvious that the songs are (or are meant to be) about something specific, but abstract enough that I get little more from all those words across all those songs than a vibe. A line like "the flame is gone, the fire remains" might mean something when, or if, I understand more of the story that will come in Acts II to V. For now I receive it only as a blank image with a mood attached.
Generally, throughout the album, the emotion and force of the songs are carried by the vocals and the music. The vocals and the music are so good that some lines will stand out and linger in the mind anyway ("the trouble began, but it never ended" or my favorite, the patiently unfolding "the pail has leaks, and even if you put all your water into it, you end up with nothing left to drink"), lifted high by their melodies.
I won't rank the songs, since they're all so good. I will note that my two favorites are The Lake South and His Hands Matched His Tongue. And I'll rank my six favorite musical sequences/things/ideas/whatever-they-are.
6. The atmospheric beginning of The Inquiry of Ms. Terri.
5. The organ solo that starts at the four-minute mark in 1878 and the organ/guitar duet that follows.
4. The crowd noise, applause, and cacophonous orchestral tuning at the end of The River North: way to build atmosphere and anticipation for Act II!
3. The modulating refrains of 1878. There could be way more of these refrains and I'd still be happy.
2. The moment in which the extra instrumentation drops out again around 1:22 in The Lake South, and all we hear is the piano and—tuba?
1. The layers of harmonies, keys, guitars, and wordless backing vocals around the main melody at 2:35 in His Hands Matched His Tongue, Casey singing about the water and the pail. (I have no idea what this song has to do with any story.)
I'm excited to hear the various melodies here reprised in future Acts.
And what a great image on the front cover!
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