VN:F [1.9.4_1102]
Rating: 10.0/10 (3 votes cast)
(Editor’s note: Today’s post is explicitly intended for Maryland’s best quasi-experimental indie folk quintet, Le Loup. I felt I owed them an explanation for my failure to review their upcoming sophomore album, out September 22 on Hardly Art. If you’re not in Le Loup, you’re more than welcome to read the following letter to the band, but that’s a touch voyeuristic isn’t it? Creep.)
Dear Le Loup:
I’ve been procrastinating. I’m working on my doctorate and I’ve got two classes this semester, one of which requires a substantial amount of writing. Today, I had to pump out five pages on teacher retention in special education (fascinating reading here, if you’re interested) and a review of your soon to be released record, Family. I had to write both of these things today because, as I mentioned at the outset, I’ve been procrastinating. In hindsight, I probably should have written a good bit of the paper before today. I feel like I have a finite number of words in me and, as such, you’re getting the short end of the stick on the record review front. In short, you deserve better and I apologize for my lack of time management skills. I suck.
This is an especially painful letter to write because I love Family. I told Kevin at Open House on Monday (it’s been a long week; maybe I shouldn’t feel like such a shit for putting things off) that the title track is one of my favorite tunes of the year. It’s like a musical version of Sometimes a Great Notion; intentionally iconoclastic and difficult, but rewarding as hell. When the tune emerges from the fog around the two and a half minute mark with that jaunty guitar line and triumphant vocal bit, I get a surge of adrenaline (and even more of one when it all comes together at the three minute mark). Those types of moments are all over the record. As a band, you know how to craft the kinds of moments that rattle the speakers and shake the soul.
It’s strangely fitting that I cocked up my own clock on this review because you handle time so adroitly on Family. You’re willing to let songs breathe and develop at their own pace. Shit, “Sherpa” has something like a two minute introductory section. Over the course of the album, there are times when things meander a bit, seeming to spread in unexpected directions organically. When something jumps out of the ether, the banjo and harmonies on “Go East,” for instance, it’s that much more startling. I love records that walk the fine line between subtle and overt.
If I were addressing my readership today instead of you fellows, I’d give Family this ultimate endorsement: my wife likes it. We had vegetarian beef stroganoff for dinner last night and I had the record on while I cooked and while we ate. Mrs. Citizen not only left the record playing, but commented positively on a couple of tracks. (She’s notoriously picky and, generally, only listens to records that are good. So.)
To sum up, thanks for Family and best of luck delivering it to the world. For your third record, I’ll plan better and bang out 2000 words. (Unless you release it while I’m working on my dissertation.) Drop me a line if you’re in Cleveland.
Bests,
Brian
P.S. Your press photos are sweet.
(Editor’s note: If you’re not in Le Loup, you might not have heard “Beach Town” yet. It is amazing and indicative of the material on the rest of the record. Le Loup already knows that, but hopefully they stopped reading after the post script.)
Le Loup – Beach Town
Pre-order Le Loup at insound.
