Arches and Aisles

The Spinanes

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 23, 1998)
• Original Release Date: June 23, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sub Pop
• ASIN: B0000063GD
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,352 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 1998
With its loping, chunky, buzzed-out-bliss guitar line and distorted-vocal-loop tracking nestled in organ groove, plus chim-chim-cherie chimey vibes and tight snare, "Greetings from the Sugar Lick" is one of 1998's most alluring repeat-play songs. A hyper-rich offering in a less than frugal year, the Spinanes' Arches and Aisles marries the smart-assy punk sass of Manos with the brittle delicacy and spaciousness of length of Strand to make Rebecca Gates's finest yet. --Paige La Grone

Amazon.com
Imagine an old, gauzy picture of an ex-lover, or a fuzzy childhood memory of a secret hideaway, or maybe the last cigarette you smoked before quitting (the first time). Arches and Aisles, a continuation of the musical territory the Spinanes charted on their last release, "Strand," inspires those kind of personal, evocative recollections in its simmering but subdued tonal structures, and the Suzanne Vega-like vocal restraint of lead singer-songwriter Rebecca Gates. There's a passion on this album that somehow comes out of that restraint, and a recognizable, yet intensely individual, slant on seeking love and understanding that transcends those well-worn lyrical preoccupations. In moments of release, the music can be breathtakingly forward ("Greetings From the Sugar Lick") or teasingly modest ("Love, the Lazee"), but most of the time, the album feels like a delicate balance; a high-wire act with a net made of velvet. --Matthew Cooke

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Red, Red Rose ..., May 6, 1999

By	Malcolm Beaudett (Hampstead, NH USA) - See all my reviews

My favorite album. I can't believe how many times I've listened to this. Lovely, evocative and complex. Brings me to tears on a regular basis. Accessible and mysterious at the same time. I'll stop before I get even more gooey.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album, a classic., March 24, 2008

By	Jack Manfred - See all my reviews

I have been listening to this album since it came out, and I still love it as much as ever.

Rebecca Gates captured a great spirit of vitality and youth culture vibe, as hip and melodic as anything by Sonic Youth, Liz Phair, or the Lemonheads, to name a few of her stylistic peers.

Sensual, intimate, playful, emotional, and honest are the chief traits of this album, which starts with a playful bang (see video on Youtube) in Kid In Candy, then proceeds through a collection of songs that you'll mostly want to listen to in private. At least that's how it makes me feel, like I'm having a conversation with one of my college girlfriends. Believe me, it's a great thing. Rebecca captured all these things with uncompromising writing. The kind one does only in a solo project.

If you ever read this, Rebecca, Thank You for this beautiful album.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasnt (In a Rave About Way), January 23, 2000

By	Patrick F Clifford (Columbust, OH) - See all my reviews

I really dug their first two records and always hoped they'd expand their sound. Here it is.

Getting into their last two releases, I was really drawn into the simple (guitar and drums (the really great Scott Plouf (who is now in Built to Spill-a super addition to that fabulous combo)structures of Rebecca Gates songs. But here she's expanded her sound (without, sadly, I guess, Plouf's drumming)and the band is that much more expressive. Each tune sound like they've spent days on it. This stuff is really laid back, very thoughtful, dreamy (not in a Codeine or a Low way), and intelligent music. This record sounds like a female fronted Sea and Cake (thanks to a vibe put down by Sam Prekop and John McIntire on a couple of tunes that, then, runs through the entire document). R. Gates is a talent which, hopefully, will keep on.

The writing is solid on this as is the minimalist pop playing of her new bandmates.

Smooth, but utterly original and accomplished.