Customer Reviews

Tight Knit

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

 

 

Get ready for another fine chapter in the evolution of Vetiver. Andy Cabic keeps cranking out the tunes like there's no tomorrow. This hooks you fast with the first track, Rolling Sea, slides nicely into my next favorite track, Sister, and doesn't let up much after that. Cabic even mixes in a little funkadelic number with Another Reason to Go that's a bit of a departure for these guys, but doesn't disappoint. Seems it's been only a few short months since we last heard from the band and now this. Vetiver in only a couple of years has become this middle-aged engineer geek's favorite sound. Enjoy.

Andy Cabic, Vetiver's singer-songwriter, hit writers block after the band's (excellent) second album, "To Find Me Gone" (2006). Unltimately he decided to abandon his seemingly fruitless efforts to come up with new and original material and instead decided to do an all-covers album. That album, last year's "Thing of the Past", turned out to be quite the treat as well (with such surprises as a cover of Hawkwind's "Hurry On Sundown"). Now then comes finally the new alsum with all original material.

"Tight Knit" (10 tracks; 42 min.) is a mood album from start to finish. The album's openner "Rolling Sea" sets the tone, with cabic's acoustic guitar providing the opening sounds. "Everyday" is as poppy as the album gets, and I can easily see it being used in some creative way for a commercial of some sort. "Down From Above" is a dreamy piece with just Cabic providing the guitar and keyboard sounds, it's one of my favorite tracks onhere. "Another Reason To Go" is perhaps the most surprising track on here, with even various wind instruments (Clavinet, trumpet, trombone) featured prominently, but somehow it all sounds great. It's clear that Andy Cabic has rediscovered his muse!

While this is as far out of the mainstream commercial music as you will find in the indie-rock-folk scene, this album is nevertheless easily accessible and listenable. It pleases the ears from the first to the last sounds, period. A very nice addition to the Vetiver catalog. If you wonder where you can hear these guys, check out WOXY (BAM! The Future of Rock and Roll), the internet-only station that bring sthe best indie-music in the country, bar none. Meanwhile, "Tight Knit" is highly recommended!

I heard most of "Tight Knit" live before I had the chance to sit down and listen to the album. I can't get enough of Vetiver's soothing psychedelic sound. I greatly appreciate their obvious folk/psych/country/classic rock influences and although it may be a bit a throwback to earlier west coast sounds, I find Vetivers sound remarkably refreshing.

Please keep up the good work!

I had heard several songs from this album on Pandora and knew I had to have it. The album cover design is great, and the songs are awesome too, just not quite as good as I had expected. I'm leaving that to my own fault of raising my expectations to the highest bar. But since I love this band so much, I'd still like to rate this as a top-notch album, not to put it down because of my overzealous expectations. Overall, The songs still have that mellow Vetiver feel, but with a jolly excitement to each. A very pleasant album with a wonderful & soft casing!

Perfect and amazing...You'll wish for more. Hopefully these guys come through Dallas/Fort Worth while they're in Austin for SXSW. I can't quit listening.Life just got better, thanks Vetiver.

The product description says it better than I can...

"dreamy, gentle songs that George Harrison would have written in some sunny country garden."

...... but this album is just not engaging compared to their previous work (borderline boring). It's lost a lot of the unusual flavor that the first two records had and lacks the charm of the "cover" records. I've seen Vetiver play several times as well and the last tour wasn't nearly as compelling as previous shows. I have to blame the material but I love this band.

`Tight Knit' is the fourth album from Vetiver, Andy Cabic's ever-evolving musical troupe. On `Tight Knit' Vetiver display some serious chops; rather they seemingly crib all of their material from notable artists of the 60's and early 70's. The Beatles to The James Gang all get a nod on `Tight Knit.' Vetiver wear their influences proudly on their sleeves and each inoffensive song has a signature sound where you can almost hear the quotation marks signifying "INSERT CLASSIC ROCK REFERENCE" here.

The album could be described as pastoral if it actually felt like it had some weight, however Cabic seems determined to sing the entire thing in the same lilting Jerry Garcia/David Gates vibe. Admittedly, there is some nice slide guitar on this album on "Rolling Sea", and I did get a kick out of spotting the references, "Sister" contains elements of The Drifters "Under The Boardwalk" while "Through The Front Door" liberally borrows the guitar riff from "Here Comes The Sun."

The remainder of the album attempts to inject some life into the pale surroundings via some white boy funk. "Another Reason To Go" was somewhat flaccid, but segued nicely into the bossa nova stylings of "Strictly Rule." The best track on this album is the closer "At Forest Edge" which shamelessly borrows from Buffalo Springfield, but I can't slight them on that. At least Andy Cabic seems to have a good record collection.