Vetiver w/ Kacey Johansing | Club Dada Andy Cabic’s musical being
is, like many curious 21st century musicians, shaped and sustained by
divergent tangents. If he’s not crafting a melancholy folk rock
diamond in his Northern California studio, he’s moving a dance floor
with bossa nova and house DJ sets, or helping curate a compilation of
Japanese City Pop. What’s magic about this new Vetiver LP Up On High
is the way these tangents color the ten songs without undermining a
distinct move to more elemental, spacious and natural arrangements. At
the heart of each of these ten songs is Cabic’s voice: sweet, tender
and weathered—a welcome and soothing old friend if ever there was
one. There are other familiar friends: the album also features
longtime engineer and collaborator Thom Monahan and the same
resourceful and versatile band that helped Cabic make the more dense
and layered Complete Strangers from 2015. Up On High was written on
acoustic guitar. Having moved twice since Complete Strangers ,
increasingly accustomed to a life in and out of boxes, it was the
easiest instrument to reach for in moments of inspiration. The basic
tracking of the album took place over a few Spring days at a
friend’s house in the high desert of California. This simple
set-up captured the organic immediacy of a roomful of friends playing
together on the floor. It’s alive and ever so subtly crackling
with the intensity of a band working together, teasing out the melody
and rhythms of songs with warmth and intimacy. Cabic and Monahan took
the fruits of this session to Los Angeles and finished the album at
Monahan’s studio over the summer as other friends popped by to lend
their talents. This album reflects the world that Cabic created and
lives in: Jorge Ben phrasings peek out from behind Tom Petty's
Wildflowers outtakes, a gentle jangle lifts whispers of REM’s Murmur
on a breeze up from Compass Point Studios. But Up On Hig h is most
clearly Cabic and his band inhabiting the realm the band was born
in—sleek, economical, soulful, and sometimes sadness-tinged melodies
riding on the gentle choogle and sway of an ensemble moving in
beautiful unison. This is an album that breathes with you in real,
lived in, natural time.
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15/04/2020 Last update