Floating Action – Floating Action – Citizen Dick Album Review

The first three tracks on Floating Action’s debut (it’s more of a pseudo-debut, but we’ll get to that bit later) lay out, to a large degree, what the album is about, aesthetically, sonically and thematically.  The first song, “50 Lashes,” is a shuffling, vaguely twangy ode to emotional flagellation.  It’s dripping with homespun, warm touches, despite the fairly bleak subject matter; there’s a sweet, recurring guitar jangle, brushed drums, ethereal and angelic “ooh”s in the background and, in general, a feeling that the song was recorded in a room with hardwood floors by eight or so musicians all locked into a singular groove.  The second track, “Marie Claire” takes the country shuffle of the first song and subtly converts it into a folky dance track; the pervasive bass line, jangly guitars and crooned chorus sound like a subversion of a Dion song.  It’s a thoroughly modern take on the kind of song that would fit into the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance from Back to the Future. The third song in this revealing and stellar opening triumvirate is “To Connect,” which slows down a bit from the first two tracks, working in a distinctly more contemplative mode.  While each of these first three tracks bears some fingerprint of country music, this one is the most overt, with a killer slide guitar solo in the middle of the track and harmonized vocals that drip with backwoods character.  This shifty nature, an easy movement amongst various genre, while keeping one foot in the mountains, is a hallmark of the record; the songs all draw from slightly different periods or concepts, but they all, to greater or lesser degree, hang their hat somewhere south of the Mason Dixie line.  Further, these three songs, and for the most part the rest of the record, dance around relationships, both romantic and otherwise.  Lastly, each of these three tracks sounds like the product of a finely tuned group of musicians, all working in concert with grace and muscularity.  That’s where things get a little weird.  It sounds like, at the very least, a quintet, but Floating Action is just one dude.

Floating Action is Seth Kauffman.  He is solely responsible for the writing, performing, recording and producing an album full of killer material (with the exception of a few background vocals and one bass line).   It’s his third full-length album, but his first under the name Floating Action.  We’ve seen this solitary genius move on other records this year (Say Hi and Telekinesis leap to mind), but this one might have the richest sound.  I love that Say Hi record, but it sounds, after a few listens, like the work of one guy; there’s a consistency to the tracks that isn’t as present on Floating Action.  Kauffman is clearly immensely talented and doesn’t sound like the same guy on a lot of these songs.  The guitar solo on “Say Goodbye” sounds nothing like the one on “Edge of the World,” but both are awesome.  The vocals drift from pointed and overt (“Don’t Stop Loving Me Now”) to wispy and passive (“So Vapor”).  Even the songs themselves don’t sound like the product of a single brain; “Cinder Cone” sounds like the one song a tight band lets the wildly eccentric drummer sneak onto an album (“Hey man, I’m not just back here playing these skins all day.  I’ve got my own material.  I write songs too.”)  Overall, the level of talent and chameleonic ability that seep through on the record are both amazing.  It’d be a great record if it was the product of five dudes; it’s a more staggering acheivement because it’s the product of one.

The album, while solid top to bottom, does have some distinct highlights.  You could put the first three songs described above on repeat and happily let your stero go for awhile.  Past that, the organ-driven pulse of “Don’t Stop Loving Me Now” is infectious and catchy.  The overt weirdness of “Cinder Cone,” especially the sitar-laced part II is also a personal favorite.  It’d be a safer bet to put out an album that only had accesbile toe-tappers;  I like the risk implied by tracks like “Cinder Cone.”  “Dying Punch,” strangely reminds me of Medeski, Martin and Wood.  It’s probably the eclectic percussion sound on that track (any time somebody brings Billy Martin to mind, that’s high praise), but the recorder solo also sounds like something MMW might lob out into the ether.  The quality of the album is such that individual listeners are likely to have different favorites than mine; the number of ideas that Kauffman taps imply that lots of people are going to like the whole record, but each of them will like it for diferent reasons.

Floating Action is on Park the Van Records, which is on a bit of a hot streak:  Dr. Dog’s Fate was on our Best of 2008 list (and might be the record from last year that I listen to the most, probably beacuse Mrs. Citizen loves it so much), The Peekers and Golden Boots have both put out great records this year and the very promising Generationals just signed up.  Floating Action fits into that line of solid work pumping out of PTV; it’s an album worth your attention and which will endear itself to you quickly.  Enjoy “50 Lashes” below and a killer live version of “Don’t Stop Loving Me Now.”  You can grab Floating Action when it hits the streets on April 21, and can also get more live material here.

“50 Lashes” – Floating Action

“Don’t Stop Loving Me Now” – Floating Action – Live

Pre-order Floating Action from Insound.