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CONFLUENCE
Howe Gelb
(Thrill Jockey)
Gelb's second solo effort is like the beginnings of a ketamine high. You sit there in anticipation for a while, focusing on the noise, then goodBYE. You're in the thick of it, none of the vibrations make sense any more and you never want it to end, except for the fact that you'd end up dying after extended exposure, especially if you're in a public place with strobe lights. So, yes, purchase this, but be mindful it's a slow starter. Easily enough, all you have to do is crank it from the start to get magnetized by Gelb's weird whispers, lyrics and menacing organs.
Fans of Giant Sand (which is fronted by Gelb) are like calm, cool versions of Phish fans, who themselves are like fat, hairy versions of Grateful Dead fans, though younger. Obsession lurks. Sand is a place, not just a band, and their southern tentacles extend all over, including to Calexico, OP8, Richard Buckner, more Calexico, Old Reliable and Neko Case, to bulls eye some examples. They are a wide brush stroke of wandering art. For the uninitiated, Gelb's first solo, Hisser, was just about the best thing around when it came out, a perfect bookend to his bandmates' perfect Calexico project, The Black Light. Bringing us back to Confluence. When the going is best, such as on his pair of Vex songs, Vex (Paris) and Vex (Tucson), you know you're in a very private place, lucky you. He samples his tour bus, has a pair of beautiful French singers get down, then moves the sampling to his bathroom for the echo.
The last track, Slide Away, is the only real rocker in the mix, Joey Burns and Howe battling to the final sonic solution with their earplugs presumably plugged in.
We find external confluence, incidentally, on Hatch, which begins like OP8's brilliant Cracklin' Water.
He also repeats his "How hard is that?" line, found on Giant Sand's Rock Opera Years. OK, music nerd, enough of that.
The album's maybe a little more self-indulgent than some may like.
It's not necessarily what WE wanted to hear.
But maybe, like Gord Downie's freaky poetry album, it's what we needed.
Slow things down, look at the creatures in the scenery. Plus, hands down, best album cover of the year so far. How 'bout that, Gelb? (More on: Howe Gelb).
Track Listing
1. 3 Sisters
2. Wicked Widow's Peak
3. Pontiac
4. Sputter
5. Blue Marble Girl
6. Source
7. 2 Rivers
8. Available Space
9. Pedal Steel And She'll
10. Cold
11. Can't Help Falling In Love
12. Hatch
13. Shadow Of Where A River Ran
14. Vex (Paris)
15. Vex (Tuscon)
16. Hard On Things
17. Slide Away