Frog Eyes, according to Pitchfork, have signed with Dead Oceans and will be releasing a new album, Paul's Tomb: A Triumph, on April 27th.
While there's rarely a shortage of Carey Mercer related material (strange but good albums from both Swan Lake and Blackout Beach last year), it's been far too long between Frog Eyes albums. Their last outing, 2007's incomparably awesome Tears of the Valedictorian, showcased the band at the top of their game. The album's towering giant is "Bushels," where the band best exploits their tried and true formula: enter a song at full tilt, create such a whirlwind of noise that the song tears itself apart, and then rebuild the song into something even more grand and majestic. Slowly, over the course of the first few minutes of "Bushels," Mercer sounds like he's descending into madness until he finds himself singing an ode to London and its wheat supply (really). Then, as soon as he's literally reduced to babbling and crowing, he reminds himself that he's a singer and quickly gets to work building you a monumental cathedral of rock n roll.
Now, in advance of the new album comes the 9 minute opener, "A Flower in a Glove." My first impressions are near hysterical. This thing is a staggering giant, a colossal piece of work that is now officially the front runner for my favorite song of the year.
The band reworks their formula a little for the song. Instead of letting the song implode under its own noisy weight, the band lets out a little slack, enough that the song can wander and explore a little. But it keeps breaking its chains, gnashing and howling like a wild animal. The band quickly reins it back in (mainly courtesy of drummer Melanie Campbell), trying mightily to keep something so powerful docile. This give and take creates a terrific sense of tension that gets strategically purged a number of times (check out the mid-song crescendo) when the band lets the song rear up on its hind legs.
The highlight of the song for me is Carey Mercer's voice. Truth be told, Mercer's voice is one of my favorites in rock right now. He can make it do a lot of weird things: it cracks and yowls and roars and croaks and wails and coos. We get the full range of Mercer's capabilities in "A Flower in a Glove," from the fiery passion of the first few minutes to the unhinged crowing of the final minutes. When he's unleashed, Mercer sounds less like a lunatic than he has in the past. He sounds incredibly focused, willing his voice to capture whatever it is that he's feeling. Listen closely to that first line: "You were always on notice." He swallows the first syllable of always before he growls out the second syllable. Even in the first line, the band has already cemented what makes them among the most compelling bands around.
Remember: Dead Oceans. April 27th. Circle it on your calendar.
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