Customer Reviews

Scarnella

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

 

 

I'm listening to the first song of this album now. It starts off with about 2 minutes of the same beautiful minimalistic guitar part, adds Carla Bozulich's incredible, deep voice, builds to a fever pitch and then back to the original guitar part. Remember, this 8 and a half minutes of brilliance is just the first song! The other nine songs range from noise excursions (which I love), almost-pop, beautiful long songs ("Snowy" might just eclipse the first song as the best on this album), and acoustic pieces. Just an amazing album--might be the best in my collection. And my collection includes Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Sebadoh, and Blonde Redhead. Serious indie rock fans out there will know that those groups have produced some of the greatest rock ever. And this debut from Scarnella might just top them all. I highly recommend this album--and can't wait to see Scarnella in concert on July 4th.

Have You Ever Listened To The Geraldine Fibers? Or Better Yet The Nels Kline Trio? Well Nels Kline and Carla Bozulich are from the former; she the singer, he the guitarist. Maybe you don't like alt. country. That's Fine. But you have to love Carla's Voice, that transparent beauty that you can't quite be sure if it's growling or soothing. And Nels is of course one of the most brillant guitar players on the planet. This is a simple duo that expands beyond the sounds of both of the afore mentioned bands. Where Geraldine Fibers have that downhome-louisville sound Scarnella does not. And where Nels Kline Trio drops more into the abstract instrumental indy-jazz sound, this does not. Scarnella (which is spelled with 2 L's, not like up above) is a quiet scream that holds your hand tightly through the depths of hell and the beautiful darker times in heaven's history. Sound like alot for a side project by an indy act? That's because it is so much more than that. And we would expect no less from any release on Steve Shelley's SMELLS LIKE RECORDS label. With Carla's Man/Woman voice and Nels' encircling guitar etc. you will frown with pleasure and quit buying records on other labels (atleast until you listen to this 30 or so times).

There's so much I could write about this unf**kingbelievable, diverse, original, and goodie-packed record. I'm hoping that one of you Wilco fans happened to fall upon this Amazon page when looking up Wilco guitarist Nels Cline. Folks, Nels and Carla are so musically intelligent and so full of emotion, and when they compose music together, there is no better pair of musically-inclined (no pun intended) adults. Carla is most famously known for her band The Geraldine Fibbers, which, in many ways, is a better listen than Scarnella, but when it comes down to it, Scarnella's only studio album is much more of a masterpiece than the two Fibbers records. There is so much going on here musically that it's impossible to believe Carla/Nels when they says this album only took a week to come up with. Every song on this album has so much to it that each can be isolated and studied for a Master's thesis.

Even though Carla's voice reaches pure bliss on this album much more than once, my favorite track is the instrumental entitled "Improvisation #1", and when you hear it, you'll very much realize there's no f**king way this was an improv. No way.

Support Carla's music career. And tell Nels to start making music with her again, even if it means he drops Wilco.

(2/12/08 edit: Remember, depending on when you read this, either her upcoming, current or previous album is now under the Evangelista moniker. A "Carla Bozulich" search of this site does not catch Hello, Voyager)

This is a great little album of larger improvisations, as well as some songs. The improvisations are not highly melodic "story" improvisations... they don't travel the world from deep dark caves, to glistening oceans. They are mostly darker moods. Some of these songs would fit nicely into one of my favorite movies ever, Vertical Ray of the Sun. They are fuzz-sculpture... drone-shifting improvisations.

A month ago I assumed I'd be glowingly reviewing Nels' newest disc now, The Giant Pin. So far it isn't doing very much for me, though. I've decided to give it some more time, go back to it when I'm in different moods. I'm in the mood to write a review for some something I love, so I decided to do this disc instead.

Some of the improvisations on this disc, at least to me, feel like they were possibly the inspiration for Nels' recent disc with Devin Sarno, Buried at Bunker Hill. This disc is so much better than that one, though. Nels and Carla are a great duo. Nels and Devin are just so-so.

From slowly unfurling, at times almost static, moody improvisations, to blood-curdling punk screams, to a sad song that seems to be about only realizing what's important after nearing the end of your life... this one still does the trick.

Can't say much more. Two fabulous musicians combining written and improv music into a swirling storm.

If you've ever heard of Carla or Nels buy it!

By far, this is the single most inspiring piece of work on CD that I have. Complex and moving, it creates many soundscapes ranging from the vast and frightening to the secure and comfortable.

The effect that this work has on the listener is not for the songs per se but for the sounds that envelop.

It is a little difficult to get into for the uninitiated. If you're looking for something "different" though, this is it. I bought this after the duo wrapped up a show in Portland Oregon and I was left thinking that we were about to enter a new age of music and frankly found the album hard to listen to at first, but it's one of those that asks the listener to really be present and listen to everything that's going on. It is not good background music; while it creates a fantastic atmosphere of its own, it would really distract (or annoy) people at a party for instance.