at: http://www.austinsound.net/2009/09/17/listenlisten-%E2%80%93-hymns-from-rhodesia-sr/Listenlisten – Hymns from Rhodesia
By John Michael Cassetta • Sep 17th, 2009The precise relation of Listenlisten’s stunning new album to
Rhodesia (the former name of Zimbabwe), I can’t say for sure; the
Houston group’s relation to “hymns,” however, is studied at
extraordinary length on “Hymns from Rhodesia,” an album at times eerily
reminiscent of the meandering low-fi hymns one might find on an early
Microphones record, and at other times narrowly avoiding all out
disaster (but, you know, in a good way).
The haunting waltz “Prologue” briefly introduces us initially-naïve
listeners to the gothic pastoral scene the album channels, followed
immediately by the equally downbeat (and three-beat) “Funeral Dirge;
Burial Service.” Immediately we feel like a lost band of travelers,
stumbling in on unknown small-town horrors, the worst of which only
begin with funerals. And it’s definitely raining at this point. With
the lucid (read: hymn-like) instrumentation, drawing on both clanging
pianos and picked banjos, not to mention an appropriately-disheveled
horn section, the problem now is that it’s likely impossible for us to
turn back.
The otherwise deeply-depressing “On A Rope” (“I came in this world
on a rope and I’ll leave this world on a rope / it loops round my neck
and dips down the back / and I’ll hang on, hang on for hope.”) breaks
into a furious stomping section, propelled forward unsteadily by
cheerier banjo lines and a hundred feet pounding on the wood. The
instruments hold together shakily, yet the mood is so perfectly
reflective of the lyrics and overall theme so far, I doubt bringing a
metronome into the room would have helped one bit.
This album is decidedly not for the faint of heart. And although
songs like “Safe Home, Safe Home In Port” usher in a marginally
brighter mood with doubled-up horn lines like a side-show version of
Sufjan Stevens, most other songs, especially “Whoever Will,” could very
well have made up “Hymns from Transylvania.” Make no mistake,
Listenlisten have this mood down to a science, or at least an art form
– each little piece of this huge puzzle of instrumentation is crafted
precisely to give an air of the spontaneous, like a true hymn that
materializes out of nowhere on one of those travel shows to “unknown”
corners of the earth (like Romania).
As “Watchman, Tell Me” (Parts 1 & 2) close up the album on a
relatively up-beat note, you may realize that nearly an hour has passed
since the mysterious first beckoning of “Hymns of Rhodesia,” and indeed
for the listener willing to sit back and take the ride, the album can
have truly disturbing effects on the imagination (again, in a good
way). But be forewarned, this is not an album that’s going to invite
you in, weary traveler, and cook you a big pop stew of power chords and
synthesizers - you’re going to have to find a way in yourself.