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Album Review
by SashaS
7-4-2005
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| Dead Meadow: 'Feathers' in title, not... |
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Dead Meadow: 'Feathers'
(Matador)
Dead Meadow: digging deeper in lighter direction
We all know that modern life’s rubbish and getting crappier by the hour… But then, the XXI century civilisation is defined and entertained by this trashy, debased, celebrity-driven media culture; exceptionally well represented all over the world media, it is no surprise then that the contemporary music’s compliment is as bland as a Hollywood blockbuster.
Not all is lost as there are bands that address the status quo and Washington D.C.’s Dead Meadow have been dragging imagination out of the pits since 1998. Their fourth album simply takes off into another realm that is populated with ideas of rock, Psychedelia, acoustic and pop melodic ideas. It may sound like ‘stoner rock’ at first but more careful exploration demonstrates that this goes way beyond songs inspired by, or enticing to, few burning herbs.
Dead Meadow’s enlarged personnel - now a quartet with the addition of second guitarist Cory Shane alongside singer/guitarist Jason Simon, bassist [and sitar player] Steve Kille and drummer Stephen McCarthy - provides more room to explore deeper and further into the sonic distance… ‘Eyeless Gaze All Eye/Don’t Tell The Riverman’ is so spacious and otherworldly it corresponds with [bootilicious] angels; ‘Stacy’s Song’ is minimal sounding but its spirit is as huge as if California were the size of cosmos.
‘Let It All Pass’ appears fatalistic with tones and lyrics making you face concepts like ‘forever’: “… Nothing will last”; ‘Through The Gates Of The Sleepy Silver Door’ chucks along with its industrial rhythm in the vein of early Einsturzende Neubauten that leads into a final [unaccredited?] song. Still, ‘Feathers’ is lighter than its predecessor, ‘Shivering King And Others’ (2003), but not lightweight - don’t expect The Coral!
An array of tracks precedes and its variety may blow out your ‘sedative-stick’ with more rock-minded ‘Let’s Jump In’ [bet Queens Of The Stone Age would kill for such a fine cut!], more mystical ‘Such Hawks Such Hounds’, more hypnotic ‘Get Up On Down’… ‘Heaven’ delivers on the title’s promise. No surprise the late John Peel had his ear on them; by the way, the Meadow-men were the first band the BBC recorded outside the radio institution’s studio [but at the Fugazi practice space] for a Peel Session.
“‘Feathers’ opens up the Dead Meadow sound still further, seeming at once more experimental and more accessible than anything they’ve recorded thus far. The record captures the famous intensity of their live show, but songs like ‘At Her Open Door’ and ‘Stacy’s Song’ reveal an obsessive beauty as jarring as sheer volume. Jason’s guitar virtuosity is at its peak, as influenced by the droning modal character of Eastern music as by classic rock riffs. Even deeper, Dead Meadow remain one step ahead of expectations,” is their label’s press office’s claim.
And, you know what? It is no hype; thus, we can only add - a perfect antidote to watching the world hurl to its oblivion.
8½
SashaS
7-4-2005
Dead Meadow’s album ‘Feathers’ is released 04 April 2005 by Matador
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