Another offering
from the Jeweled Antler Collective. This
is one of my favorite recordings from that prolific label – many of their
releases are too abstract or strange even for my sophisticated self. Skygreen Leopards (name taken from a poem by Kenneth Patchen) are a band composed of two people, to my knowledge (plus helpers, no
doubt), but their multitracked vocals and instruments make for a fully
fleshed-out musical experience – not the tin can soliloquies of Ivytree. The songs are either carefully written or
brilliantly improvised – it’s a tossup, really, if it’s not some combination of
the two. Either way, it’s a fantastic
album with a great lo-fi sound and a comfortingly pleasant theme.
That theme is a kind of psychedelic, tree-worshiping, back-lying forest dweller kind of thing. With song titles like “Morning of Gulls” and “Let Me Grow In Your Meadow” and occasional breaks for bird and goat noise, you may get the feeling that these people like being outside. Indeed they do, and they like to compose great songs there. It’s hard to differentiate the songs with words – they are almost all led by acoustic guitar, with beautiful and frequent vocal harmonies and spare, hand-held percussion (read: a tambourine – which one song is named after). That doesn’t dull them at all – it merely makes this review more difficult. Certainly I have favorites – “Morning of Gulls” is very nice, “Hello to All Your Rain” takes a bit but arrives at a beautiful final movement, “Tambourine, Play It Slow” is a nice departure with a strikingly beautiful last moment, and "The Heron" simply is a very strong contender for best song of 2004. In the latter, the intricate acoustic strumming, soft singing, and profound and poetic lyrics combine in glorious fusion, an aural gumbo that you would have to be the enemy of life and happiness to dislike.
A word of caution (a lot of these lately) – take care that you obtain One Thousand Bird Ceremony and not Life and Love in Sparrow’s Meadow. I was quite underwhelmed by that one, their new LP, and while it is not bad and will probably grow on me, it is nowhere near as good as their first. Probably the album can be bought direct from the label.
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