The For Carnation
The For Carnation
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The For Carnation
The For Carnation
Touch & Go, 2000
RiYL: Sonic Youth, Gastr Del Sol, Windsor For The Derby, anything droning |
Are they still worthy of your attention? Fight Songs wasn't really substantial enough to provide an answer, and its mini-LP successor, Marshmallows, made the first For Carnation record seem like Slayer.
The For Carnation is the long-delayed debut full-length. The fact that it's coming out some six years after TFC's formation (and some three years after much of it was recorded), suggests some questions about the state of both McMahan and former label Matador (TFC, after Silkworm, are the second longtime Matador band to leave for Touch & Go in the last two years).
Politics aside, what have we got here? An improvement on the musical torpor of Songs and Marshmallows, definitely, but nothing even approaching the dynamic and compositional strengths of McMahan at his Slint peak.
"Emp. Man's Blues" opens the album with a blueprint for most of what's to follow: very low-end, creepy bass, constant drum and percussion rattling, and organ and guitar interruptions which continue for all of the song's eight minutes. Every song on The For Carnation sticks to the same musical pattern for its entire length, every song tops five minutes. Clearly the band is shooting for some sort of mystic, better-living-through-drone-exposure aesthetic. They kind of succeed.
The album's abstract menace, mostly held in the distantly recorded whispers of McMahan's vocals, can readily enrapture a willing listener. Once drawn into "Tales" or "A Tribute To," the tiny snakes of vibe, keyboard, or dissonant guitar that burst in and out of the rest of the music's unyielding grasp can have a profound effect. The instrumental "Being Held" adeptly transforms a repeated, single-note clank into a reasonable basis for a vivid song.
Like its shadowy cover art, The For Carnation only offers a fuzzy glimpse into Brian McMahan's mind, as compared to the full-on gaze of Spiderland. Despite its limitations and narrow range, the fact that the record still remains a worthy listen proves the strength of McMahan and The For Carnation's abilities as musicians. Don't expect to be blown away. But do expect to be slowly sucked in.
MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.