VARIOUS ARTISTS: A Number Of Small Things: A Collection Of Morr Music Singles From 2001-2007

By

Posted on Nov 30th 2007 10:24 pm

Filed in Albums | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comments (0)

V/A: A Number Of Small Things

VARIOUS ARTISTS
A Number Of Small Things
MORR079CD
Morr Music 2007
36 Tracks. 154mins42secs

A Number Of Small Things, the sister label to Morr Music, gathers together the residues from their 7″ releases like little trinkets and presents them in this achingly compulsive compilation of unexpected pleasures. The album presents a stage on which older, more established artists present vivid re-imaginings of their bookmarks, while other, less exposed acts utter their first words with tentative excitement.

English artist Butcher The Bar seeps out of the latter camp in a particularly idiosyncratic manner; the lilting acoustic guitar momentum of Get Away and the spaciously arranged Leave This Town not only gets the album off on the right foot, but, in no short time, provides ample reason to look forward to individual efforts from him in the future. Seabear, who recently issued their first full-length The Ghost That Carried Us Away, also appears in fine form. Their sound is bare boned, even parched, yet with the subtle color provided by organ and melodica, and the spaciousness opened up with the shuffle of drums, a sense of privileged intimacy is quickly evoked.

A common emphasis on an easy balance of sinuous groove and fragile detail allows one to sweep across and take in the album as a whole. And what the works lack in intricacy they, at least in part, make up for with sheer, pleasurable consistency. Indeed, numerous pieces impress to the extent that the are able to dabble in doleful, calmly reflective moods, with gentle droplets of sound and warm acoustic melodies without being reduced to a muddled mediocrity. Masha Qrella’s Saturday Night, for instance, possesses a hymnlike gracefulness in its delivery which makes it an inspiring rather than insipid dip into the matter of disconnection among people. Stood alongside other fine contributions from Styrofoam, Lali Puna, and B. Fleischmann, a palpable joy often springs up in these explorations.

3.5/5

Icon: arrow Morr Music
Icon: arrow Buy: CD | iTunes

Filed in Albums | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comments (0)

Comments are closed.