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Arbouretum:
Long Live the Well-Doer
Arbouretums new album moves like an experiment in the psyche, pulling into existence with a roomy, Indian-tinged, instrumental mood piece. They emerge from space, collecting momentum and dust along the way until theres enough substance to solidify the rest of the album. As the first track swells into place, a structured Americana song rises out of the stirred dust with full chords and a steady beat to set the tone for track two. The intro serves well to carry the listener into the album. As a whole, it echoes a desert Americana feel. The tracks roll well together, partially as a hollowed out, deconstructive instrumental and partially as a reflective, unconventional singer-songwriter piece. After a few songs, track four rolls around, another instrumental with straightforward picking and rhythm, which quickly descends far off into space and reverb; a distance and warmness is created and maintained. The track feels very ghostlike as it weaves, wanders and loses itself. The fifth track appears to be a straightforward anti-war track, something not unusual on many songwriter albums these days. Track six finds us shoved out into space again, as ping noises and cascaded picking swirl up around the listener. Next is an interesting, distorted psychedelic number that is a bit repetitive, but purposefully so. Track eight rolls around, and here we have the most captivating piece. A wonderful build and deconstruction experiment is at work here. Pacing guitars and white noise build upon each other, swelling and distorting, and then disintegration begins into muddy, sometimes fragmented and sometimes overextended lines. On this track, it seems as though the artists are trying to replicate a certain transcendent effect through drone and repetition. The ending monotony of the eighth track fizzles down into pulsing vibrations, leading to an extended silence. A longer than average space (about ten seconds long) waits and creates a pool for reflection. It has a great effect on the listener and is played out ingeniously; the album becomes interactive, the artist created this space through both the song and the pause, and it actually involves us and pulls us right alongside him. This done, Arbouretum end their album on a rather dismal note, a reflection by the artist himself, right after he has induced the same in the listener. Its his endnote to his masterpiece. Delving into an inner-reflection, it seems hes trying to create an experience between him and the person taking in his art, a camaraderie of sorts. This is definitely one of the most interactive, cohesive and interesting albums Ive reviewed lately. Its a nicely played work of art.
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