Customer Reviews

Flags of the Sacred Harp

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I never would have expected this sort of record from the always difficult Jackie-O-MF. A downright pretty folk record. And no, not psych folk, or new weird America folk, just gorgeous and dreamy, lilting and delicately lovely folk. A bit of droney strum, a little shimmery atmosphere, male and female harmony vocals, a lush instrumental backdrop of double bass, cello, pedal steel, reeds, occasional slow burning post rock rhythms, rich and lush and really quite lovely. Some of the old JOMF surfaces toward the end of a few of the tracks, and on some of the longer tracks, where the floating folk implodes and becomes a sort of abstract free rock meander, with hiccuping turntables, snippets of spoken word, warbly melodies, all drifting in a woozy soundscape of drone and shimmer.

But for the most part this is definitely the most song-oriented, and loveliest JOMF record to date. Probably has a bit to do with the fact that four of the seven tracks are traditionals. But even when the songs are being stretched and twisted and pulled apart, it's never harsh, instead it's all warm and muted, lush and dense, lilting and hypnotic, a deep, rich gorgeous sound world of dark and dreamy folk, washing over you and filling your ears with sweet soft sounds.

JOMF sa albumom Flags Of the Sacred Harp nam nedonose nista novo, cak sta vise vracaju nas u '80 kada su Sonic Youth, Jesus And Mary Chain, i kompanija radili ono sto JOMF rade danas. Od ukupno sedam pesama samo tri su vredne paznje: Nice One(koja bi bila mnogo efektnija da traje pet minuta umesto deset, tacnije 10:11), Rockaway i odlicna Hey! Mr. Sky koja neodoljivo potseca na pocetnu fazu benda Mazzy Star. I to je to. Ostatak cine Spirits u trajanju od 16:11 a vas agonija hvata kada ce kraj pesme vec posle treceg minuta, Good Mornin Kaptain koja samo prodje pored vas, Loud And Mighty gde zenski vokal zvuci kao uspavana PJ Harvey koja traljavo odradjuje svoj posao i napokon The Louder Roared The Sea od 16:07 posle kojeg se ovaj album i zavrsava.

Da je kojim slucajem ovaj album izasao osamdesetih dobio bi cistu peticu ovako samo bleda trojka. Casopis Q (2/5), Mojo (4/5).