Issue
#127
Dec. ‘09
Take a “ride
down the other side.”
It starts as a mish-mosh of sounds being compressed
and uncompressed on a surreal jaunt presenting an unknown expectation.
A door
opens, we are invited in, and it closes. We have stepped onto the
platform of a
down-home jam. Melding numerous types of musical expression and
intensity, Closely
Watched Trains offer their feelings from the
side rails of the
mainstream, so that we may understand what is coming down the
tracks…
Started in New Haven, CT. by Jon Schlesinger (banjo, guitar, lap steel,
vocals) and John
Gage (drums, vibraphones, marimba,
percussion), they
invited friends from across the country, via computer, to help them
complete
the songs they were structuring. When they thought they had finished
their
work, they recruited local artists John Leonard (bass, vocals) and Taralyn Bulyk (violin) to help them present
the songs live. What
followed for this new collective was a sort of re-imagining of the
songs. The
“2-man with help from friends in the studio” band
molted into the 4 member Closely Watched Trains.
Like the opening mish-mosh of sounds, CWT tackles a mish-mosh of genres
throughout the album,
all with impeccable arrangements. If one things stands out in this
cornucopia of
musical enlightenment, it’s the arrangements, Arrangements
diverse enough to
bring to mind such artists as Eels, Dinosaur Jr., Elton John, Big Head
Todd
& The Monsters, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and Electric
Light
Orchestra, to name a few.
To the musical arrangements add song structures and
various production techniques (down & dirty, crisp &
clean, muddied,
distorted, wall-of-sound, to name a few). What we are listening to is a
band
that has rode the tracks of their musical inspirations and wheel-housed
them
back out with a flare for catchy rhythms, melodies and hooks that
propel us
forward for listen upon listen. Figure in smart, interesting, attention
catching, and sing-along-able lyrics and Closely Watched Trains prove themselves a band worthy
of attention.
Keep a close watch on these trains as each song
chugs along gathering steam on the side rails of the mainstream tracks.
Understand what is coming as you “ride
down the other side.”
Closely Watched Trains
is available now for: $9.98 + s/h*
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