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Recording:
  The Clearwater Swimmers
 
 
Artist:
  The Clearwater Swimmers
 
 
Label:
  New Martian Records
 
 
Release Date:
  4.October.2024  
 
Reviewed by:
  PostLibyan  
         
 
Rating:
   
         
 
Review:
 

It always seems weird to me when an old(er) musical style that fell by the wayside suddenly becomes popular again. The relevant style here is "slowcore", a meandering pop form from the late 1990s and early parts of this century. I was into slowcore when it was happening, and the early years of EvilSponge are littered with reviews of those kinds of bands.

And then it seemed to fade out for a while. Heck, even Low (who I consider the giants of the style) eventually released albums that branched out in strange new ways.

But, well, slowcore is back baby! Get ready to shuffle along to meandering tunes, moving at your own pace. Yeah! One instance that points to the Slowcore Revival is the reappearance and continuing success of Duster, who came back and seem to have a nice following.

But that is an older band reappearing. The Clearwater Singers, on the other hand, are a new band making slowcore. This four-piece New York band make lethargic pop, light and slow, with a bare hint of twang to the guitars. This music is surprisingly engaging with the vocals just on the edge of consciousness, blurred by slowly chiming guitars.

I love this kind of hazy music, music that just sort of hangs out, in no real hurry to do anything. I have found this record to be very engaging.

The record kicks off with Valley, which starts off with a hum of guitar feedback, a bit of misdirection to let you think this might be some noisy band. But no, the band kicks in with tapped drums, slow echoing guitar, and hushed voice, singing about "a ghost down by the stream". This is not noise rock – it is quiet, calm, building to a slow grind with a nice guitar solo. The band let's this grow for five and a half minutes, the longest they stretch out on the record. But it's nice. The longer form works here.

On River the guitars shine chiming in layers like the early work of Red House Painters. the guitars are almost chiming here, in layers. A lovely tune.

The next song really shines. It's called Let Us Be Strangers, and it features a swinging piano riff that reminds me of the song It’s a Crime I Never Told You About the Diamonds In Your Eyes by The Black Heart Procession from back in 1999. The piano, the shuffling drums, the chiming guitar, and the wistfulness in the voice all combine to make this a stunner.

Proud is a happier song, positively sunny. The guitars jangle with a hint of R.E.M., the drummer plays a little more forcefully, and the bass steps forward with a nice rolling riff. This has a nice jangling chiming guitar, and the drummer plays a little more forcefully than usual.

They are back to being somber in Man of God. Vocalist Sumner Bright voice drips with melancholy learning as he sings, "Please, nothing change" to end the song. There is also a horn that wanders through this song, which is a nice accompaniment.

Firewood gets almost busy, the drummer going a bit crazy here. And the band really hammering at in on the choruses. This reminds me of The Rave-Ups and The Del Fuegos, bands that were part of the Roots Rock movement in the 1980s. There is a similar sort of feel here.

Heaven's A Bar opens up in the middle with a droning slide guitar, adding a little depth to the song. An acoustic guitar joins in on Weathervane. They pair it with a nice floor tom heavy drumming. This really works.

The Clearwater Singers get noisy again on Kites, which builds to a feedbacky (slow) frenzy. And then finally the album ends with Radiant which is a sort of demo, echoey and poorly recorded, but it shows the prettiness of Sumner Bright's voice against the delicate guitar and some birds chirping near wherever he recorded this demo.

One thing to note is that Bright's voice is kind of high-pitched. It's not quite a falsetto, and perhaps not as high pitched as Superchunk's Mac McCaughan, but it is kind of different. Alos, often he is almost speaking. None of these are serious deterrents, but I know that some people might find the voice too high, so if you are sensitive to that sort of thing, be forewarned.

Now, that said, I think there is a lot to enjoy here. I like that the songs meander, taking their time and the band is content to let them do that, not feeling the need to move rapidly nor to crowd the songs with excessive instrumentation. These songs feel spacious, open, something I associate with slowcore in general, and I think that The Clearwater Swimmers are a nice addition to that genre.

 
         
 
Related Links:
 

https://theclearwaterswimmers.bandcamp.com/album/ST

 
         

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