Albums by this artist

Very Soon, And In Pleasant Company (2001)

Shipping News

Very Soon, And In Pleasant Company

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» PIERO SCARUFFI | STAFF WRITER

Shipping News Very Soon, And In Pleasant Company Quarterstick, 2001 RiYL: Rachel's, June Of 44, Ativin, Slint

Very Soon, And In Pleasant Company finds the Shipping News' core unit of Jason Noble, Jeff Mueller, and Kyle Crabtree augmented by sound engineer Christina Files and with outside help from members of Noble's other group, the Rachel's. These additions allow the Shipping News to truly offer the best of two worlds: the skewed, conceptual harmonies of June Of 44 (of which Mueller was a principal) and the quasi-classical scores of Rachel's.

The undulating "The March Song" builds a bridge between hard rock and jazz rock, leveraging on cubistic guitar and bass duets. The instrumental "Nine Bodies Nine States" is slightly more atonal, while the lengthy and subdued "Quiet Victories" lets a whisper drift over spare beats and then musters visceral forces to counter its lethargy. The effect is psychedelic and otherworldly.

The equally long "Contents Of A Landfill" achieves the same kind of hazy trance but the music sinks into the serene dejection of a Tim Buckley or Nick Drake before rising again in an heavenly guitar-driven theme. "Actual Blood" is a bluesy, mournful dirge augmented with piano and cello. Later, the soft, liquid strumming of "How To Draw Horses" conjures Bach for the math-rock generation.

The trio has found a format that is less cerebral and more malleable. The music flows naturally, the instruments chat warmly and peacefully, and melodic undercurrents provide the center of gravity. While certainly not pop, Shipping News write "songs" that do not indulge in difficult passages and progressive-rock constructions. It feels more like a consummate storyteller spinning a tale, albeit an unusual one, full of twists and surprises.

PIERO SCARUFFI | Piero Scaruffi runs the exhaustive music database Scaruffi.com. A native of Italy, he has also been praised for his work on the General Theory of Relativity, formal theories of the mind, and artificial intelligence. And no, we aren't making that up.