Inverness
By Eileen Tilson
Sitting right on the cusp between EP and LP at eight
tracks and 25 minutes in length, Inverness is full of complexities in its design and build yet is
very organic in its execution. Listing contributions from six musicians (Edward
M. Burch, Chani Hawthorne, Jeffrey Schmidt, Hun Kim, Charith Premawardhana and
Isaac Bonnell), the record is generally constructed around jangly acoustic
guitars, chiming electric guitars, and a tandem of viola and cello lines to
flesh out the melodic structures.
“Seraphim Succubi” renders your first kiss on the
doorstep blissful … you know, the one you couldn’t walk away from but had to; but
this isn’t make-out music. It isn’t that generic. The instrumentals aren’t
logical. The lyrics flow in and around the audio; and whether you hear them
depends on your mood and who your company is. One would rarely call a ukulele
subtle, or a cello unbold, yet here they are, subtle and unbold. “Gray’s Elegy”
is straight up Agent Orange surf rock. Again, the lyrics are optional. The
melodies overlap hypnotically, but not Leo Kottke hypnotic. Innuendos of early
Smashing Pumpkins flow like beautiful white noise.
It would be almost impossible to try to pin these guys
down and slap a specific categorization on what they’re trying to accomplish
here, but that’s because they operate on the fringes of several different genres
and styles walking the line between them.
