I find it a bit strange how even now, so few people recognise 'Eskimo' as a derogatory term. We have moved so much further in weeding out other similar terms, so why not this one. I guess it doesn't come up as often in our everyday discussions, at least outside of Canada. Nevertheless, I'm not that happy that the word is used in the title of this album. I'm sure the band hasn't meant anything bad with their terminology as this is just referring to numerous words for snow used by native Canadians, but I think people should be more aware of the words they use nowadays.
The album begins with the song These Hands, which starts out quite slow and quiet. In some ways this song is just an intro to the album, not really being a proper song in itself. First proper song January Twenty Something has fast paced piano riffs that lead to a rising and slightly psychedelic chorus that reminds me of bands such as MGMT and The Flaming Lips. Against Me is mostly a ballad, but it does pick up the pace in places. This is one of the most well thought of songs on the album and the production is also very nice. Even the Good Wood Gone has fast acoustic guitar picking along with grand pianos. I really like the melody that draws influences from the new folk scene of the time. Into the Shadows of My Embrace has a bit of grooviness that reminds me of some slacker rock songs by artists like Mac de Marco or Courtney Barnett, but when the song starts properly, it moves more towards traditional indie rock. One Rose is almost like a proper indie folk song with acoustic picking and rhythm section that wouldn't be out of place on a Fleet Foxes album. On Rose Walk, Insomniac brings back the harder indie rock sounds. The dark and ominous melody rises beautifully with brilliant electronic samples. This is the kind of sound Why? does best. Berkeley by Hearseback goes back to mellow indie sounds. Even though there's a clear singing melody in the song, I can hear the rap background in the rhythm of the vocals in this song. This Blackest Purse starts off like a fairytale song portraying similarities with bands like Mercury Rev. The album ends with the title-track Eskimo Snow, which is a slow folk song that rises gently towards the end. It's a beautiful ending to the album.
It's difficult to search for anything by this band. Why? definitely isn't that great for search engines. I was, however, able to find a music video for combined two first songs of the album, These Hands/January Twenty Something. It starts with a man with a bunch of arrows in his back walking across an accident scene where he rescues a boy from a smoking car. There's also a woman on the ground someone else is trying to resuscitate. When the song changes, the camera moves to the band and the rest of the video is mostly just looking at the band play the song in a dark street.
It's interesting how different this album is from the band's first two albums. Aesthetically, the album is very similar and you can definitely recognise the singer immediately, but as I said in the beginning, the rap sequences are almost completely absent and most of the songs on the album are ballads. This is a bit strange from a band who started by combining catchy indie rock songs with rap music. I kind of like these songs, but at the same time, the band is less special, less original when they have gotten rid of their most distinctive features.
Listen to the album on Spotify.
No comments:
Post a Comment