bread 'n butter

As a casual fan of The Appleseed Cast (I'm all about Low Level Owl 1 & 2, but not much else) I was pleased, but not surprised, to to hear that Old Canes is Appleseed Cast singer, Chris Crisci's solo project. Old Canes is vastly different from Appleseed Cast in terms of instrumentation, but a lot of the same elements shine through the broken sounds of backwoods strumming and distant brass on Old Canes' latest Feral Harmonic.

As a follow-up to 2004's Early Morning Hymns, Feral Harmonic has been five years in the making. In terms of production, it sounds like it could have been made in a week. The songwriting is concise and powerful, but the playing is often so rough and densely layered that it nearly overshadows the brilliant lyrical content. Most of the album is littered with far-off-sounding horns and near-constant xylophone, but it lends a whole classic Elephant 6 vibe that hasn't been done better since In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - and that's saying A LOT.

READ MOREIt really only takes one listen to album opener, "Little Bird Courage," to know what this album is all about; skittering drums open up to frantic, and slightly out of tune, acoustic guitars and xylophones. This is all well and good but when you get to the repeated lines, "When I'm thirsty, you are the fountain. In the face of danger, I am unafraid" if you aren't sold, you might as well stop there. This is a great album. This is an album that makes you want to sing, make you want to smile, makes you want to make something this beautiful your own damn self. This is the best kind of album.

Old Canes - Feral Harmonic