I wrote a review on this band's first album, This Wreck is Goin' Down (1996) about a year ago. Blue Funnel World (1998) was the band's only other full length release. The release came out on Rhubarb Records, which was the band's founder, Greg Jacobs' own start-up record label in classic DIY fashion. The music again centers around Jacobs' vocals, guitar, and songwriting, but the writing is more diverse and the production is better than on the first album. I find more indie pop going on here, particularly in the album's best song "You Do Everything But Heal Me", even a label such as "shoegazing" wouldn't be far off the mark at times, but the acoustic guitar still makes its presence felt predominantly within the music. About half the album is instrumentals and I would say that in general the album's better songs reside in this half, but no exclusively. The general feeling tends to be up-beat although the lyrics run counter to this in general. The result is beautiful melancholy that benefits from the solid recording production.
Weeping in Fits and Starts - "You Do Everything But Heal Me"
My Bloody Valentine pops in my head as I listen to the reverbed and heavily distorted guitar running underneath the vocals on this song. Percussion is almost unchanged throughout the song and the guitar doesn't do too much, but when it does it is done well. The layered guitar that appears briefly around the 2:21 mark is a nice piece of production and a nice tweak to the song. The vocals feature male and female voices appearing together and perhaps the best vocals sung on the whole album. It's a very simple song with just a few added quirks, overall very well produced, and still emotionally evocative.
Weeping in Fits and Starts - "Rhedd"
Weeping in Fits and Starts - "Liliacs"
One of the many instrumentals on Blue Funnel World, "Rhedd" totals 3:25 in length and is heavily guitar driven with minor percussion in the background. The song builds up with added percussion and stronger guitar play until about the 2:14 mark when cymbals kick for a part and are carried off and into the next song, "Lilacs" a more somber keyboard (organ sounding to be exact) instrumental song.
After searching around online for a while, I could not find a copy available used or otherwise of Blue Funnel World, though I did find Weeping in Fits and Starts Facebook page that has some more information about a few shows they may be playing as a reformed group. Since the album is out of print, you can find and download the whole album freely available by clicking on this link: Weeping in Fits and Starts - Blue Funnel World.
Two Guns, Twin Arrows came out in 2002 on a small label 54º 40' or Fight! based out of Michigan. There is a great in-depth review of this album over at Hardcore for Nerds, which I highly recommend. I'll go ahead and throw my two pennies in here anyways, mostly because I find myself listening to Two Guns, Twin Arrows tonight and really digging it. Abilene was one of guitarist/vocalist Alex Dunham's many bands (Hoover, Regulator Watts, Radio Flyer). Like most (well probably all) of his bands, Abilene's sound is distinctly driven by his guitar sound and play. What set's Abilene's sound on this album apart from Dunham's other bands is Frederick Erskine's presence. Erskine played in other post-hardcore bands such as the mighty June of '44 and Crownhate Ruin. Erskine did not appear on Abilene's first album (s/t) and his role in this album, though not changing the underlying mood of Abilene songs, added a new wrinkle that must have been surprising even to the band themselves. Erskine's influence on the band's music, on the whole, resulted in one of Dunham's most experimental sounding (not unlike some of the June of '44 material Erskine was a part of) creations. So it is with these two creative figureheads in one band, coexisting and allowing each other's creativity and improvisation to flourish, at times complementing, at other times simply getting out of the way of each other, we all end up benefiting. Even if only for this one album's worth of material. I've only hinted at Abilene's sound on this album thus far, as there isn't really any need to try and compartmentalize their sound with any other label than say post-hardcore, which in itself gives little of what to expect.
Abilene - "Twisting the Trinity"
All of the songs on this album, there are eight in total, sit around the five minute mark in length. "Twisting the Trinity" was a solid choice for the first song on the album because it allows for the introduction of each instrument distinctly. Additionally it presents a seperation between the instruments and vocals, as if you can picture each piece sitting in different corners of your bedroom, living room, car, wherever the hell you are listening to this song at the moment. After the initial loud entrance into the song, things are calmed down and the mood takes a darker, cooler feel to it. The song features trumpet and guitar parts that alternate leads. Here we see, maybe more than anywhere else on the album, how these two instruments (and to an almost equal degree the drums) support each other. The secondary instrument, whether guitar or trumpet at the moment, progresses in a way to provide a steady rhythm and basis pulling or grounding the listener. It's not jazz, but you get a similar feeling, just rolled into a rock song.
Abilene - "Fellini"
The trumpet here is used to accent more than anything else in the beginning of this song. When things breakdown a bit about a minute into the song, I find the simple open chord guitar strums as perfectly placed amid Dunham's calls out. About two and quarter through the song, the chords change and a steady pounding pace takes over, which once the vocals subside, the trumpet runs away with the rest of the song. Controlled while still unique.
This album looks to be out of print. You can find a few hard copies of the cd at Amazon. I also came across the whole album available for digital download through a media fire account if you feel so inclined.
