Empty Tigers or the Roaring Sea, What are We?

I'm trying to do this on Mondays, but it's been a busy week thus far and this is the first chance I've had to write something for the New Decay. So anyways here's this weeks 'Into, and Not So Into,' which is predominantly focused on Victoria's Himalayan Bear, who I just can't get enough of lately.

INTO ...

Himalayan Bear - La Lonesome Island (2006) and ... Attacks the brilliant air (2007
After the Frog Eyes and Himalayan Bear show last week, my wife Jess turned to me in response to my excitement over how much I enjoyed Himalayan Bear and said 'see Jeff! This is why you shouldn't read so much about music. So you can be surprised by someone!' Although she probably wouldn't have used so many exclamation marks, what she said does have some validity. There's something about being caught off guard by an artist that makes music that much more enjoyable.

La Lonesome Island came out last summer, and is exactly that. A summer record. Not in the 'it's full of summer hits' kind of way. More because of the feel of the album. The songs are generally short (for Himalayan Bear's standard), and consist primarily of acoustic guitar, some slide, a ukulele here and there, and the occasional splash of drums and keyboards. Lyrically it is a fairly dark album, but sonically it's so sunny. You get the sense that the album was written as Himalayan Bear was relaxing at the beach in Oak Bay. While it does have its weak moments, it also has its breathtaking ones as well ('I'm On Sorrow' in particular). Overall, La Lonesome Island is an extremely good first record

Himalayan Bear ... Attacks the Brilliant Air extends HB's songs and allows them to percolate a bit more, resulting in a much more sophisticated and mature sound than that found on La Lonesome Island. A good conversation partner of HB would be San Fran's Devendra Banhart. Both have a fascination with creating imagery through lyrics (rather than merely telling stories), both focus on the guitar in their songwriting, and both are influenced by British Folk music (arising out of Devendra's obsession with Vashti Bunyan, and HB's growing up in Victoria, a city alive with British overtones). However, Attacks the Brilliant Air illustrates some significant differences between the two. Basically, Banhart lacks the subtlety so prevalent in HB's new album, and thus at times comes across as trying a bit too hard. Banhart wants to pound his faux-hippy mystique over your head. HB would rather just allow yourself to make that decision. Banharts songs often extend into jam-out sessions that lately haven't been working. HB also extends his songs, but allows them to sit for a while and develop on their own. It's a captivating way of songwriting that keeps me wanting more (even after a song moves beyond the 9 min mark). In short, Himalayan Bear is probably my favorite discovery of the year thus far.

The Bad Plus - Prog (2007)
This jazz trio is opening up for Joshua Redman at Winnipeg's upcoming jazz fest. If their live show resembles anything close to this album, the $35 ticket price will be well worth it. Their jazz version of Bowies 'Life on Mars' gives me goosebumps every time (in fact, I had to pause that last sentence because I couldn't handle listening to the track and writing about it at the same time). Same with Rush's 'Tom Sawyer.'

Adem - Love and Other Planets (2006)
I didn't get too into this album until recently. It's a wonderful mix of Brit/Pysch-folk, and pop-folk, with the appropriate amount of electronics thrown in. 'Launched Away' is particularly sweet.

Not So Into
It's been a good couple of weeks. Probably the only musical disappointment was Awesome Colors set last Monday. Other than that the only other things I can harp on are the Sens, Chris Pronger and the huge number of worms stuck on my front door.