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Editorial Reviews
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Funeral Music is the debut solo offering from 30-year-old singer-songwriter Tim Seely. It is a collection of sophisticated space-folk songs for hard-luck lovers.
Tim is perhaps best known as the voice behind his former band The Actual Tigers (their critically lauded, poorly promoted debut/swan song, Gravelled & Green, was released on Capitol/Nettwerk America in 2001). After the demise of the ‘Tigers and their record deal, the Seattle native retreated to the small town of Oxford, Mississippi, to write and record the majority of what would become Funeral Music. There he entered the studio with producer Dennis Herring (Sparklehorse, Modest Mouse, Elvis Costello) and local multi-instrumentalist/engineer Clay Jones, to flesh out the demos he loosely assembled in his bedroom. Dennis manned the helm for seven of the album’s eleven tracks. Tim recorded the remaining tracks at his home studio, House of Destruction, back in Seattle.
The record as a whole is a decidedly dreamy, late-night affair. Along with the usual noisemakers, Tim and friends conjure up an otherworldly musical landscape using orchestral samples, subtle electronics, steel guitar, layered background vocals, a "tiny bell" and various found sounds ("Hell Rules," a reworking of an obscure Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 song, utilizes a toddler babbling in tongues on a voicemail message).
Tim’s narratives range from angular self-reflection, as in the opening track "6 Foot Crest" ("We built a house of shattered glass / The grommets growled as she rose / Prepared my shelf for mantle health / and wasted hours in her fold"), to dysfunctional character studies, contained in tracks like "Trucker’s Lullaby" (the tale of a lovelorn trucker’s self-induced slumber at the wheel), or the title track, in which an apparent neurotic rambles on about the object of his affection, a funeral singer.
In addition to his studio savvy, Tim is also a versatile live performer. His guitar work can swivel freely between delicate finger-style and epic, fuzzed-out heroics--often within the same song. His live setup also employs an instrument he invented that tracks his voice via an extra microphone, and allows him to essentially "sing" string arrangements in a spooky, choral-synth-orchestra tone. (Tim's sometime-guitarist Dave Garrett describes the sound as "a chorus of a thousand dead baby angels," and it was recently dubbed "The Narnia Stick" by one enthusiastic fan.) Every bit the shapeshifting performer, Seely recently made his debut singing behind the drum kit when a drummer had to bail on their performance in Austin at the last minute. Though commonly a hometown headliner, he has landed supporting slots for such notable artists as Giant Sand, Nicolai Dunger, Clem Snide, Josh Rouse, Sparklehorse and Ed Harcourt.
When not adding to his own body of work, Tim applies his producing, arranging and mixing talents to the projects of other artists that catch his fancy. He’s also been known to lend his voice to commercial radio jingles from time to time, airing in such foreign places as Bangkok, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Houston, Texas. He likes pizza.
Tim is perhaps best known as the voice behind his former band The Actual Tigers (their critically lauded, poorly promoted debut/swan song, Gravelled & Green, was released on Capitol/Nettwerk America in 2001). After the demise of the ‘Tigers and their record deal, the Seattle native retreated to the small town of Oxford, Mississippi, to write and record the majority of what would become Funeral Music. There he entered the studio with producer Dennis Herring (Sparklehorse, Modest Mouse, Elvis Costello) and local multi-instrumentalist/engineer Clay Jones, to flesh out the demos he loosely assembled in his bedroom. Dennis manned the helm for seven of the album’s eleven tracks. Tim recorded the remaining tracks at his home studio, House of Destruction, back in Seattle.
The record as a whole is a decidedly dreamy, late-night affair. Along with the usual noisemakers, Tim and friends conjure up an otherworldly musical landscape using orchestral samples, subtle electronics, steel guitar, layered background vocals, a "tiny bell" and various found sounds ("Hell Rules," a reworking of an obscure Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 song, utilizes a toddler babbling in tongues on a voicemail message).
Tim’s narratives range from angular self-reflection, as in the opening track "6 Foot Crest" ("We built a house of shattered glass / The grommets growled as she rose / Prepared my shelf for mantle health / and wasted hours in her fold"), to dysfunctional character studies, contained in tracks like "Trucker’s Lullaby" (the tale of a lovelorn trucker’s self-induced slumber at the wheel), or the title track, in which an apparent neurotic rambles on about the object of his affection, a funeral singer.
In addition to his studio savvy, Tim is also a versatile live performer. His guitar work can swivel freely between delicate finger-style and epic, fuzzed-out heroics--often within the same song. His live setup also employs an instrument he invented that tracks his voice via an extra microphone, and allows him to essentially "sing" string arrangements in a spooky, choral-synth-orchestra tone. (Tim's sometime-guitarist Dave Garrett describes the sound as "a chorus of a thousand dead baby angels," and it was recently dubbed "The Narnia Stick" by one enthusiastic fan.) Every bit the shapeshifting performer, Seely recently made his debut singing behind the drum kit when a drummer had to bail on their performance in Austin at the last minute. Though commonly a hometown headliner, he has landed supporting slots for such notable artists as Giant Sand, Nicolai Dunger, Clem Snide, Josh Rouse, Sparklehorse and Ed Harcourt.
When not adding to his own body of work, Tim applies his producing, arranging and mixing talents to the projects of other artists that catch his fancy. He’s also been known to lend his voice to commercial radio jingles from time to time, airing in such foreign places as Bangkok, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Houston, Texas. He likes pizza.
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Product Description
Funeral Music is the debut solo offering from 28-year-old singer-songwriter Tim Seely. It is a collection of sophisticated space-folk songs for hard-luck lovers.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"I see the house I grew up in from a neighbors house I'm burglarizing",
By the mayor "mayor" (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Funeral Music (Audio CD)
I am going to have all three reviews here beat. I have been listening to Tim Seely since the Actual Tigers were known as Willis. I still have their self titled debut and listen to it regularly, turning friends on to it constantly.
It took me until recently to spend time with "Funeral Music" and I can't stop listening to it. That is not to say that I am blindly giving lip service to a singer for nostalgic reasons. When I heard tracks early on on his web site and caught the slower tone, I harbored feelings of an artist who I feared might be crushed by the "music machine." What I didn't hear until I listened to it cover to cover was what we miss whenever we pass over albums like "Sea Change" by Beck and Radiohead records for the first time, not sure what to make of something without a pep intro, the kind of record you can't stop listening to. And beyond albums like "Sea Change," that I admit, I have to be in the mood for, the melody and underlying "cheer beneath the wreckage" nature of what lies in Seely's most impressive album to date, is a kind of cleverness that is not born from an attempt at being smart, but earnestness inventing intellegence. And, as in all of Seely's music, their is an air of playfulness even in it's most serious moments. The title of this review being a perfect example. For the readers who gave up a long time ago and are skimming for favorite tracks and itemized information, you might not be this records audience, but here...enjoy the list-o-fun. The most obviously broad track and still one of it's finest is the title track. The next two, "Trucker's Lullaby" and "Pleasant Valley State Prison" compliment it perfectly. You will be suprised by how much you like "Telephone" the second or third time you hear it. I must say though, if you like these, there is not a weak track in the album. "Hell Rules" is not the most prolific, and not suprisingly, it is not of Seely's own pen. I am told it is a reworking of a Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 song. I know, I'm not familiar either. I look forward to Seely's next album and hope the buzz from this one gives the man the confidence to stick his neck into the music machine once more, he's sorely needed there.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Give it 3 listens and you'll be hooked.,
By
This review is from: Funeral Music (Audio CD)
I like Lady Luck the best, followed by 6ft Bong, I mean Crest...
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cough drops for lunch again....,
By Charles Chantecleer (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Funeral Music (Audio CD)
I bought this album 4 years ago and I still cannot stop listening to it.
That year I bought 10 copies to give out as presents on Xmas. I think I'll do that again this year. Go buy it, or befriend me by Xmas.
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