First Light's Freeze

Folk and country-inspired; communal campfire sounding. The singing is mostly sprechstimmoid. Big improvement on the first record, I think. If you like Espers, Tower Recordings, Jim White or the less noisy bits of Akron/Family, you'll like this. It's a bit further out than White; less so than Tower Recordings (though P. G. Six is similar).
Best: 2, 6, 7, 9, 11
1.Very brief ambient tones, pretty.
2.“Let's go outside in the murderous night”. Spare, haunted country-influenced song. Mostly just guitar, some rattly percussion in the mix, a little bit of backing vox.
3.Sort of a Tennessee Two beat, harmonized vox. Picks up the pace and insistence as it proceeds. Guitar solo and then keys come in, very nicely done.
4.Banjo and thumpy drums.
5.Abstract sound scribbles—trumpet and fiddle? Completely not confident in that identification.
6.Singing more conventional. Dark.
7.Chimes and guitar open. Wordless background singing; the main vocal melody's very strong, echoed on guitar. Drums come in halfway through; then the main melody's reprised on guitar and mandolin (or harp?). This is what Currituck Co. should have done instead of making Ghost Man on Second.
8.Another abstract interlude, this one's rather haunting; distortion, maybe an autoharp, unsettling background tones.
9.One of the least folky/country songs on the album. Starts off mellow, ends in a freakout.
10.Interlude.
11.The background here—which could be, in the main, a distorted trumpet or a guitar, and includes other instruments too—reminds me of nothing so much as the middle section of Scott Walker's “The Electrician”. Fluttery, watery, just plain pretty distortion and keys, some cello or bowed bass. This appears to be a love song.
12.Sounds like Smog. Specifically, like “Left Only with Love” from “Knock Knock”.
13.Ethereal instrumental, guitar, fiddle, percussion. The fiddle plays way up, sounds like above the bridge, hyperactively, while the guitar and percussion are much more laconic; the contrast is very effective.