Breathe Owl Breathe – Ghost Glacier
This album is simple, clean and lovely. It’s gentle and unhurried, and they appear to have been listening to an awful lot of Bill Callahan. It sort of drifts into this territory over the course of the album though, rather than starting out there. To begin with it works more of an easy, slightly croonsome folk sound, again keeping things nice and laid back.
The use of female vocals is particularly nicely judged on this album, whether it be in duet or simply to accent the main vocal thread, it brings a lovely dynamic to the music, and seems somehow to make it more wistful. Her voice seems to have a touch of the Jolie Hollands about it at times, which perhaps leads to me having the impression that this album is a little more folky than it actually is. Apart from the gorgeous cello work, there’s nothing all that folky about this really, but I am still left with the impression that it is a folky record for some reason.
I would like perhaps a little more zip or bite about either the songwriting or the arrangements, if I were to make any criticism. Something somewhere could do with being a little more raggedy and less, well, pleasant, I suppose. That’s a bit of a churlish criticism in some ways because the lush loveliness is one of the best things about this album – it’s rich and beautiful and a pleasure to listen to – but you know what I’m like with angst. This is a good record though, and I will be exploring their back catalogue. Incidentally, according to their MySpace page they don’t have a record label at the moment, which seems like an absolute travesty.
Breathe Owl Breathe – Twilight
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Breathe Owl Breathe – Sabertooth Tiger
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