Winter Songs
Winter Songs often seems like the third wheel in Art Bears' trilogy of full-length releases; it is neither as overtly political nor as musically diverse as either of the albums that bookend it. Nevertheless, it's just as accomplished as the others, if perhaps slightly less accessible. The instrumental palette is stripped down, and there seems overall to be a stronger emphasis on Krause's vocals as a result. Even in the one piece where Frith and Cutler really let loose - "Rats and Monkeys" - it's impossible to escape Krause's frenzied shrieking, and she more than matches the other musicians in hyperactivity. Thankfully, she is in fine form throughout, singing lyrics that are extraordinarily intriguing despite being entirely descriptive (the concept is based on bas-relief carvings; each song's text is a straightforward description of one such carving) with characteristic ease. The mood is stark, and the lyrics deal with heavy subjects, death prominently among them. The opening track is a good introduction, with Krause's voice rising, lonely, out of a primordial haze of keyboard droning. The song moves along slowly, with only a few modulations in the backing keys to accompany Krause's musings, before fading into oblivion. While other songs are more active, with Cutler's percussion naturally playing a huge role, the mood is set from the beginning, and Winter Songs never strays far from that base. As a result, it is perhaps Art Bears' least "fun" album, but also could be one of their more rewarding ones. As for those lyrics: while it's true they are less overtly political than the heavy-handed screed that is The World as it is Today, this is still pretty strongly Marxist stuff. The descriptive texts paint pretty clear pictures of dislocation and social alienation (for example, in "Man and Boy") in medieval societies presumably on the edge between feudalism and capitalism. So those looking for meaning in the lyrics more comparable to the other two Art Bears albums will n --brandon, Ground & Sky