Black Foliage
Olivia Tremor
Control
Flydaddy,
1999
Reviewed by
Troy Carpenter
This is not easy listening.
The second album from the Olivia Tremor Control is a musical collage in four suites that
roosts alone on a most original branch of rock and roll. Black Foliage was
recorded over a period of three years, then dissected, re-combined and diffused upon
itself to arrive at its present state as a dense musical gumbo, with chunks of pop
brilliance floating within a broth of ambient textures and intricate theme variations. If
most albums take a couple listens to really understand, this one will take about thirty.
But the album ultimately triumphs due to its vastness and complexity.
If you have the equipment, I recommend buying Black Foliage on double-LP, at
which point you'd be able to listen to each suite as an appropriate mood presents itself,
and occasionally combine them. Like acts in a play, the four sides position similar
characters (ideas or phrases of music) in different situations and environments, each
introducing and exploring new plot lines, subtexts and drama.
Each act both resolves movements and introduces new ones, with layered tape edits of every
conceivable instrument at convoluted frequencies. The music is played by a veritable
orchestra including harpsichords and theremins, mailed-in tapes of dreams and
environmental sounds, and Beach Boy-sounding rock harmonies.
As usual, the OTC acts as a swell tour guide through its own bizarre environment. In the
colorful accompanying booklet, notes explain the album was originally sketched as a series
of variations on the main theme (track 17 on the final mix). Over time, it evolved into
"edits within edits within edits," the band overdubbing and twisting the bits of
music until they ended up with the various "combinations" and "animation
sections" scattered throughout the record. There's also a read-along guidebook to the
album, with explanations to some of the correlations between the songs and their
difficult-to-discern musical makeup.
What is truly admirable about Black Foliage is its distinction in a turbulent
region of the arts. While some question certain bands' integrity, saying rock music is
created as profitable product rather than an artistic expression, there is no doubt which
side the Olivia Tremor Control fall on. The music on this album could only have been
created with an immense amount of hard work and dedi cation.
Concurrently, the band's creative vision is unique. Though this record is definitely not
for everyone, it reveals its treats to those who take the time to investigate it fully.
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