Full disclosure: You could lock me in a room and play “The Mercy Wheel” three hundred times in a row and I’ll only grow stronger and more resolute in my already lofty opinions on the beauty of When The Devil’s Loose. Bondy weaves a wicked web of edgy folk, spanning basic country croons to higher decibel and reverbed folk anthems. Similarly to Vetiver’s Tight Knit, this album took a few spins to draw me in, and this is probably fitting. There’s a lot to digest on this album, and its initial visage of simplistic folk becomes shattered on repeat listens. Pitchfork lauded the musical effort, but had reservations on the overall lyrical content of the album. Dear readers, let me ask you this: Should you side with the grad school Pitchfork intern regarding lyrical quality, or a literature teacher? I read the Pitchfork review, and agree wholeheartedly about the musical merit of Bondy’s effort. Nowhere in the review, however, do I see anything resembling a coherent thought regarding the lyrical nature of this album. In fact, Bondy’s pen is wicked sharp and the overriding metaphors of life, death, harvest, fertility, and immortality are abundant and subtly injected into each heartfelt track.
The album is smooth all the way through, and Bondy’s patent raspy voice remains loud and clear, but never overshadows his brilliant guitar work. I got the chance to head down to Musica to see Bondy perform a few weeks ago, and while his live act is a little more distortion driven and eclectic, he does an excellent job evoking emotion and presents his material in ways most acts could not achieve. Interestingly, Bondy dove into an ear piercing feedback digression three times during the set, and anyone who arrived in Akron to hear a “simple” folk show left the venue a little left of center. I suppose this matches When the Devil’s Loose, but not necessarily in sound. The musicianship is rich, yet simple. As listeners frolic through the blossoming record, they know Bondy’s capable of more complex material; the enjoyment of this record is that Bondy’s lack of pretense drops an amazingly sincere, bare-bones effort directly in our laps. We can look at (insert snarky blogsite here)’s 2009 list and find a myriad of artists attempting to jar something loose sonically, or at the very least, pull listeners in with complexity. What separates Bondy’s effort is that it comes across as effortless, an incredible mixture of words and music, raw and lean enough to discern, evaluate, and fall in love with.
When I sat down to write this wrap-up review of the album, I had an outline of sorts, moving through the album’s lyrical consistency, its completely full tone, and exemplary melting together of mood, hook, and ambience. In fact, I have the album spinning on the turntable as I write this. Brian has often alluded to a kind of “longevity” stamp we place on meritorious albums. Of the thousands of highlight points I could mention for When the Devil’s Loose, I suppose the most ringing endorsement I can give is that I’ll be listening to this for the rest of my life. “A Slow Parade,” “Oh the Vampyre,” and “False River” have been mainstays throughout the year, and will most certainly enter my own personal canon. There’s a soft delicacy that’s difficult to describe, and the heartwarming balladry is bound to hit a chord for nearly any listener from any camp.
Check out the rest of our slowly building “Best Albums of 2009″ list.
Buy When the Devil’s Loose at Insound now!
A. A. Bondy – I Can See The Pines Are Dancing
A. A. Bondy – When the Devil’s Loose
This is the best – or, at least, most like my own opinion – review of Devil’s Loose that I’ve seen yet. (I want to ask you to be my new best friend based on the first sentence alone.) Even after I feel like I’ve played this album so much that I may have worn it out, I keep coming back to it.
Coincidentally, I was at the Musica show, too. I was the loudmouth who requested “How Will You Meet Your End?”
Hmmm. Sounds to me like Citizen Kevin has found a soulmate on the interwebs.