OUR BROTHER THE NATIVE
Parting Marrows
DSFAT73
Fat-Cat Records 2008
05 Tracks. 21mins28secs
Format: Digital

Close in essence to CocoRosie and Animal Collective, the first output from Our Brother The Native, Tooth & Claw, released over two years ago, already showed strong signs of creative flair, especially for a band formed by three teenagers scattered around the US, who only met in the flesh for their first live set, shortly after the album was released. They returned earlier this year with the much darker and challenging Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels, which swapped the glittering broken folk of their previous effort for slices of tortured spaced-out post rock.

With Parting Marrows, Joshua Bertram, John-Michael Foss and Chaz Knapp return to more purely pastoral tones, but this digital-only EP marks yet another departure, this time toward slightly bohemian moods. Continue Reading »

OUR BROTHER THE NATIVE
Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels
FAT-SP15
Fat-Cat Records/Splinter Series 2008
08 Tracks. 78mins18secs

From the wild poetry of their debut, Our Brother The Native have drifted into much darker and tormented terrains with their sophomore effort. Indeed, while on Tooth And Claw, the band were found playing in the garden of CocoRosie and Animal Collective, Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels depicts much more ghostly and gothic musical forms.

Formed in 2005 by Michigan-based John-Michael Foss and Joshua Beltram, and Californian Chaz Knapp, OBTN rapidly caught the attention of UK label Fat-Cat, and, just over a year later, released their debut album. Under their geeky appearance, the trio revealed an incredible level of sonic maturity, incorporating everything from folk and electronica to post-rock and noise. Their second album, Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels pushes the boundaries much further. Continue Reading »